A Whole New Perspective
by xshadowninja4x
Summary: I don't own IMHHW. It's owned by Pulltop. Two best friends decide to have a change of lifestyle and move to Kazegaura. What happens after they join up at the new school there? New friends will be made. New things will be discovered. Love triangles, drama, fluff and whatnot. Lemons coming sometime later. Just read it, it won't kill you. I'm not THAT terrible of a writer. :P
1. Chapter 1

**A Whole New Perspective**

 **Well, here is the other story that I said I was writing. I really hope everyone likes this one as much as my other one. If you haven't heard of or seen 'If My Heart Had Wings' yet, I suggest you go check it out! Anyways, onwards with the story!**

Chapter 1: The Big Move

"Yeah, that's fine guys just dump it all right there, Frank and I will take it out and sort it all later." I handed the moving guys each 7.5k in yen. Which is around 60ish dollars.

They both bowed their heads lightly, thanking us as they walked out the door of the hotel we were staying in.

"Man dude, it was pretty cool of your Dad to book us into the hotel for the whole year!" Frank exclaimed.

"Well I guess that's what happens when he owns multiple businesses. Heheh." I began to start picking up the boxes from the ground.

"But wait...what about when the year is up?" Frank asked.

"He told me to just call him whenever we needed him if we deemed it necessary. But we probably won't. We still have a lot of money saved up from back when we were working offshore."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyways, I think we should just start unpacking the big shit first. We can always just sort out the small shit later on, since that'll be more of a time consuming pain in the ass." Frank set down one of the boxes he was holding.

"Agreed. Is that the new exhausts for the cars?" I said pointing to the box he had just set down.

"Yep, that's it. Can't wait till we fit them on. These were illegal back in the U.S., since they hit over 108 decibels. Here, I don't even think they have a limit." Frank smiled, patting the box of car parts.

"Yeah man thank God cause these things hit like 130 decibels just stock, so I have no idea what we'll be hitting with all the boost we have from the turbos. I guess it doesn't matter though, Japan is like...tuner central anyway." I walked over towards the box that had contained our new refridgerator. "Give me a hand with this will ya bro?"

"Yeah of course." Frank grabbed one end of the box as I grabbed the other. We both walked it into the kitchen before setting it down.

"We can just hook it up and stuff later after we unpack some more stuff." I said.

"Yeah that sounds good to me." Frank nodded.

After a few hours had passed by, Frank and I had finally unpacked all of our things to look somewhat acceptable for the time being. After all that hard work, I began to get hungry.

"Yo, I say we go grab some sushi, like pronto dude." I rubbed my stomach and patted it a bit.

"Uh, yeah, let's." Frank grabbed his wallet and keys from the table. "We both cruising, right?"

"Hell yeah dude, didn't get our cars shipped here for nothing!" I picked my keys and wallet up as well.

Frank drove a Nissan 350z with a twin turboed 2jz swapped engine. I drove my Honda Civic Si, single turbo 2jz swapped engine with a rear wheel drivetrain swap. We both drove standards obviously. Even back when we lived in the U.S. we were always cruising side by side no matter where we went. We never passed up the opportunities to take the cars for a spin.

After driving around a bit and figuring out how to use the GPS on my phone around here properly, we finally had found a sushi place at this place called Windy Mall. After grabbing our food, we found us a seat and sat down to eat.

"Good lord this shit looks amazing." I ordered four salmon rolls with a side of eel sauce.

"You don't have to tell me that twice bro." Frank ordered the same as I did.

"Man...it's crazy how much stuff changed over the course of 16 years huh?" I glanced around the brand new looking mall.

"Well, I mean that is a long time you know. Jeez, has it really been that long since that time we had come here with our Dads?" He asked.

"Something like that yeah. We were eight when we last came here to Kazegaura soo...fourteen years, my bad. I was getting all mixed up." I put my hands up in defeat.

"Haha yeah. We came here at the age of eight with our Dads for that business trip, then we stayed here for two years. That's probably what confused you and made you add those two unneccesary years to make it 16 instead of 14." Frank chuckled.

"Yeah man, that's probably it." I shook the thought off quickly. "Ahh anyway, shall we?"

Right as we were about to chompity chomp down on our food, a random passing girl had dropped her phone. She had tried to catch it in mid air, but failed, only causing it to fly even further straight towards my food. With quick reflexes, I reached my hand up and caught the cell phone before it had succesfully landed in my eel sauce, thus saving it. It probably would have ended up screwing her phone up too.

The girl who I'm assuming that the airborne phone belonged to, had semi-long red hair, and she was wearing extremely short black shorts with a reddish pink tank top also sporting some sort of flowery looking wristband.

I just smiled and chuckled a bit when I looked up at her and presented the phone.

[In Japanese] "Oh thank y-" She suddenly stopped when she looked at me, blushing a bit. It looked like she had seen a ghost or something.

I just looked over my shoulder a bit, wondering what the hell she was looking at. It kinda creeped me out a little to be honest. I just raised my eyebrow and made a small motion towards her with my hand that her phone had been residing in.

"O-Oh! Right sorry...thank you." She said as she gently grabbed the phone from my hand.

"Oh...you speak English? Cool! Yeah uh...my best friend and I just moved here from the U.S. We learned a little bit of Japanese before coming back here after so long here but uh...yeah we still aren't crazy great at it." I shrugged.

"We sucked at it back then the first time we were here too! Though we were much younger then." Frank laughed.

"O-oh that's cool..." She sounded really nervous the whole time she talked to us. _"So it really is..."_

I looked over to Frank who was just smirking hard at me for some reason, before turning my attention back to the girl. "Uhh...yeah I guess so heheh."

"Hayd- Uh...I mean...Well bye then!" She hurried off into what looked to be some kind of sports store or something.

"Uh...okay that was weird as fuck. What was she about to say?" I picked up my chopsticks before grabbing one of my rolls and dipping it in the greatest sauce ever created.

Frank was still just staring at me and smirking hard.

"The hell are you smiling so much for?" I cocked my head back at him.

"Because she was cute as shit, and she was totally digging you man. You're an idiot if you seriously didn't notice that." Frank kept that same smart ass smirk on his face as he had before.

"Nah man I don't think she was. But what's weird is...it seemed like I know her from somewhere or seen her or something before." I laughed.

"I mean...I highly doubt it." Frank shook his head.

"And don't you think it's weird that she just like all of a sudden started speaking English? Like...she started in Japanese, looked at me, and then just like...knew to speak English I guess? You don't find that weird at all?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Not really, but if you say so dude. I'm pretty sure she was checking you out though and-" Frank looked over towards the sports store that the girl walked into before, and smiled, gesturing with his head towards it.

I raised an eyebrow at him before turning around to see where he was looking. Once I had looked into the sports store, I had locked eyes with the cell phone girl, who was peeking her head out at me. As soon as she took notice that I had seen her she had gotten a surprised look on her face.

She then bolted back into the store in a flash.

"Heheh...told you she was peeping you." Frank continued to eat his sushi with that smug little grin of his.

"You're enjoying being a dickhead aren't you?" I chuckled.

"Oh come on man...I say you go ask her on a date." Frank had a more serious look on his face now.

"Nah man. You know I don't do the whole dating thing. I've never been good with girls." I looked off into the distance.

"Hmm...yeah I can't argue with you for feeling that way, you know I'm the same way." Frank shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well."

"Yep, screw it. But hey...this sushi is killing it at least." I continued whoofing down the delicious rice and seaweed covered raw fish.

"You got that shit right." Frank had just finished his last piece. "Whoo...that was fantastic."

"Definitely. Well, we found our sushi spot." I said proudly.

"And we've only been here four hours. We're already getting settled in nicely it seems. Anyways you ready to head out?" Frank asked.

"Yeah man, we can check out the rest of the mall some other time cause my ass is ready for a much needed nap." I stretched a bit when I stood up from the chair.

"Definitely man, two day flight kinda makes you forget how to stay awake. We gotta get some rest since we gotta get up early tomorrow anyway to go and finish signing all those transfer papers and shit as well for the new school." Said Frank.

"Oh yeah no kidding. Huh...I'm actually kinda nervous dude, this is still pretty crazy that we decided to do this." I let out an exasperated sigh.

"Yep. Hopefully tomorrow everything works out pefectly. Then starting the day after we'll both be official students at Keifuu Academy." Frank had brofisted me.

"Yeah dude. We got this all day." I grabbed some yen from my pocket and left it on the table for the waitress.

After we got into our cars, we both left the mall and headed straight back to the hotel to get a few more things unpacked that were necessary. After another good hour or so, we both took our showers and got ready for bed around 8. Of course before we actually went to sleep, we got in a few rounds of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the N3DS. After an hour or so of that we had called it quits and got ready for bed for real this time.

"*Yawn* Ohhh..." I turned over towards where Frank's bed was in the darkness. "You nervous about tomorrow man?"

"Hmm? Yeah, of course I am dude, this school is totally new to us. But we got this in the bag dude we just gotta have confidence that's all." He said.

"Yeah, you're right we'll be fine." I turned back over and faced the wall. "We should just relax and try to get some sleep man, we can worry about everything else in the morning."

"Yeah that's a deal man, I'm tired as shit anyway." Frank adjusted his pillows and all to get comfortable. "Night bro."

"Night dude." I quickly felt myself begin to drift off to bed.

 **Well, there you have it! My first chapter to my new story. I'm sure you all noticed that this chapter is really short. I intend to keep the chapters of this story that way, since I'm always busy with work and don't get much time to put out chapters. I'll continue to keep the chapters for my other story the average length that they have been since that's my main peice of work, so that won't really be changing.**

 **I hope my current followers are able to enjoy this story as well like my other one. Please, continue to R &R and let me know how I'm doing along the way for this one too! Thanks everyone, for everything in advance. You guys never cease to help me greatly. See you guys in the next chapter soon!**

 **Stay awesome guys!**

 **-H**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Keifuu Academy

Frank and I had decided to get up a bit earlier than we had planned, due to us deciding that we wanted to try and see if we could start our classes today instead.

"Shit man...did you see where the hell I put my khakis?" Frank called out from down the hall, digging through some of the boxes.

"Uhh...aht I gig yot." I still had a mouth full of toothbrush.

"...I'm gonna take that as a no then?" He raised his eyebrow.

I just shrugged my shoulders before turning back to the mirror, continuing to brush my teeth.

"Ah nevermind got em." Frank held up his pants, sliding a belt through the loops and then putting them on. "*Phew*...Thank christ these things actually fit me. I was hoping I didn't buy something too small. I literally never wear pants."

I spit out the mouthwash from my mouth after gargling. "Yeah man, I was worried I bought something too small or something but they actually fit pretty damn good to be honest. Though I must say, I hate wearing pants."

"Yeah, agreed. Soo..." Frank let out an exasperated sigh. "Man...I'm kinda nervous."

"Yeah me too. But we got this man! Just gotta be cool, I'm sure we won't have too much trouble getting along with people." I shrugged and grabbed my wallet and keys along with my cell phone, shoving them all into my pockets.

Frank did the same, shoving his necessities into his pockets. "Yeah, depending on how much of the class can speak English."

"You do realize that like...95 percent of Japan can speak English...right?" I chuckled.

"Oh...right. Heh." Frank turned off the lights and double checked his pockets to make sure he had everything. "Well, I'm ready when you are."

I nodded and walked out the door behind him, shutting and locking it before walking to my car. "Thank God we already signed up for our classes and had gotten everything straight before we came here dude. I don't even want to think how long it would take to do all of that if we hadn't done it a few months ahead of time."

"Uh...probably like forever." Frank said before getting into his car, rolling the windows down and putting on his sunglasses. "Alright man, let's do this."

I rolled my windows down and plugged my aux cable into my phone and cranked the music up a tad, throwing my shades on as well. "Right behind you bro."

Getting from the hotel to Keifuu was around a 25 or so minute drive, so we weren't really in any rush. It was kinda nice to have everything within short distance of where we were staying. After we pulled into the school's parking lot we had parked towards the back, side by side and away from other cars like we always did whenever we drove somewhere.

We locked our cars and prepared ourselves for the day ahead at our new school. After a short walk in the parking lot, we entered the building together.

"Alright let's see...we need to go to the principal's office and talk to...Mr. Miyako I think his name was." I looked over at the wall that had a handy map of the school posted on it. "Ah...there's the principal's office here. Should be right around the corner from us since we're...here." I pointed to our position on the school map.

"Alright. Well...here comes the moment of truth then." Frank let out another small sigh. He and I always got pretty nervous when it came to big changes like this.

We walked down the hall and found ourselves in front of the principal's office after a very short walk. "Well...here goes." I knocked on the door lightly.

[In Japanese] "Come in." A voice called out.

I took a deep breath before entering. "Hello...Mr. Miyako?"

"Ah...I'm assuming that you are the new foriegn exchange students?" He asked, looking at his watch. "And here quite early I see."

"Um yes sir.. That's us. We just wanted to make sure we got everything done in time for us to be able to start classes today, i-if that would be possible." I extended my hand. "Hayden Mirambell sir."

"Indeed it would. Very nice to see students so eager to learn." He then turned his attention to Frank.

"Frank Hyler." Frank extended his hand as well.

He shook the both of our hands and smiled at us both before looking to me in particular. "Mirambell and Hyler huh? I believe I've met and spoken with your fathers before. Darren and...Tom...was his name, right?" He said looking towards Frank.

"Uh yes sir, that's them! I'm guessing they did some work on the school or something a while back? My Dad was telling me a while back that you'd probably recognize us too...or something along those lines." I asked.

"That's correct, though I only remeber who you two are. It has been...quite some time since I've first seen the two of you. As for your fathers, they helped with the extension of the roof actually." He smiled. "Your fathers are very good at what they do. Tell them Takei said hello next time you talk to them. They definitely know who I am."

"Hah...will do sir. By the way...are Frank and I still set to have all the same classes every year?" I asked.

"But of course. I've no problem with keeping the two of you in the same classes." He began to search for the transfer papers.

"Hah, sweet." I put my hand down to the side and lightly fist bumped Frank.

"Ah here we are." He set the few papers on the table.

"These the ones we need to sign right?" I said as I pointed towards them.

He just handed the both of us a pen and nodded. "That they are."

"Alright cool." I began flipping through the papers, briefly skimming a few paragraphs here and there as Frank and I signed them all after a good ten or fifteen minutes.

Mr. Miyako just briefly read each of the papers to ensure that we had done everything correctly. "Alright guys, that's it. It was nice seeing you two after all these years, even though you may not recall our first encounter. I'm sure that I'll see you around the school sometimes though." He shook our hands once more. "You guys still have a good half an hour before first period starts. Please...feel free to eat something in the cafeteria or...walk around a bit and get a feel for where you're at. It's up to you, just make sure you aren't late for class!"

"Yes sir!" I turned and walked out of the office with Frank, and headed straight to the cafeteria with him.

All of the food and drink was actually pretty cheap here. Frank and I both just got a drink from the machine along with a snack. Though we could speak a tiny bit of Japanese, we sure as hell couldn't read it. We both had gotten a soda that had a picture of a melon on it, so we could only have assumed that it was a melon flavored soda. We had both gotten some kind of greenish bagel looking thing from the snack machine for our food. We had decided to go outside and hang out by our cars until class had started.

"Man, I still don't know what the shit this is, but it sure as hell tastes good!" I continued eating the bagel...er...thing.

"Yeah no doubt. This melon soda is pretty bitching too." Frank gulped down another sip of his drink.

"Hmm...I still can't place my finger on what the hell this bagel tastes like though." I began to ponder at the thought.

"Yeah me either. It tastes soooooo familiar. But...I just can't seem to place my finger on it." Frank shook the thought off.

We both leaned on the hood of our cars, enjoying the breeze as we ate our small but delicious breakfast. After a few minutes, a man pushing a girl in a wheelchair was seen at the other end of the parking lot. They seemed to have been bickering a bit or something, though we just brushed it off. We had seen a few other students here and there just walking around, probably getting ready for class as well.

"Well, we only got ten minutes left. Should we head to class?" I asked.

"Yeah might as well." Frank let out a loud burp after chugging down the rest of his soda.

"Nice one." I laughed.

We both walked back into the school and had glanced at the map one more time to make sure we didn't get lost. After we successfully found our first class, we walked in and sat next to each other, setting our backpacks down and getting out our notebooks.

"Alright. Cool. Now we just wait on the teacher I guess." Said Frank.

"Yeah, hopefully this Tobioka guy is cool." I said.

"Agreed. He's our homeroom teacher and the Math teacher as well huh?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, I think that's what the paper said. Christ man, Math III...I hate Math. You already know your ass is gonna be helping me big time on this." I pointed to him.

"Shit, as long as you help me with Advanced Science. I. Freaking. Hate. Science." He lightly hit the desk with each word.

"But Science is awesome dude, how can you not like it?" I questioned.

"No no no...Science itself is amazing. But I absolutely suck at the classwork." Frank stated.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Fair enough. I guess we..."

[In Japanese] "Alright everyone, let's get ready for class." The teacher suddenly walked in.

"Crap, did he say to take something out?" Frank whispered to me.

I made a confused face. "I dunno if he actually said anything specific. I think he just said to prepare the books or something like that."

The teacher then suddenly began to glance at a small piece of paper, look up to the class, and then back to the paper. [In Japanese] "Hmmm... looks like miss Himegi-San isn't here again today. Hmmmm...ah yes, it would seem that we have two new students to welcome into our class today as well."

"I think he just said something about us two dude." Said Frank.

"Yeah he did, he's looking straight at us." I swallowed hard.

"Would the two new foreign exchange students please stand and introduce yourselves to the rest of the class?" He smiled.

His sudden English had startled me for some reason. "Oh! Uh yes sir."

Frank and I both stood up and took a deep breath as the entire class turned their attention towards us.

Frank cleared his throat. "I guess I'll go first then. Uhh hi. My name's Frank Hyler, and...um..." He trailed off.

"Just tell us a little bit about yourselves, don't be shy." Tobioka said.

"Right. Uh...My name's Frank Hyler and I like to play the drums...uh I sing too. I freerun and parkour. I love to cruise in my car with my best friend. And I like food." He chuckled.

The whole class chuckled a bit at Frank's statement then turned towards me after he finished. "Uh Hey...I'm Hayden Mirambell. I play the guitar and sing a little too. I also freerun and parkour. I cruise in my car all the time with Frank as well. I also like food, though maybe a tad more than he does! Uhh...I'm pretty sure that you all figured out that Frank is my best friend, we kinda do the same stuff together. Heh. Oh and uhh...we're both from the U.S. and..."

The whole class had let out a gasp when I said that last bit.

The two girls in front of us turned around to face us. "You guys came all the way from the United States? What's the weather like there? Is it different from here?" The first one asked.

"I'm Akira! Nice to meet you! What kind of food do you guys eat? What kind of technology do you have? Do you two have girlfriends?" The second one asked.

"Hi? And uhh...heh, n-no we don't, we don't really date. Uh...pretty much the same food kinda? I guess. The weather sucks where we're from. And I'm pretty sure you guys are a little better in technology than we are." I laughed a bit.

"Awww...you guys don't date? But you're both really cute. My friend Ina here and I are single!" She winked at us.

"Uhhh..." I blushed a little at her sudden forwardness.

"Alright alright that's enough, let's not pester the new students and run them out of the school already. You'll have plenty of time after class to get aquainted. Hayden...I believe I've actually met your father before. Is he by any chance the owner of Mirambell Construction Inc? He's the one who helped with the school roof a while back correct?"

"Oh yes sir that's one of the businesses he owns. And yeah that's what Mr. Miyako was telling me earlier actually."

"Ah I see. I actually had the pleasure of having a drink with your father and Miyako-Sensei once. Your father is a very respectable man. Anyways, thank you gentleman, you may take your seat." He gestured towards our desk.

"Oh...yes sir." I quickly sat down.

The two girls in front of us just giggled and looked back at us once more causing Frank and I both to blush in embarassment.

"Alright let's open our textbooks to page..." Tobioka suddenly looked over towards the classroom door as it opened. Another teacher had peeked into the room and requested to speak with him. "Ah...hold that thought." Tobioka had then stepped out for a bit.

Frank and I both felt incredibly uneasy. Most of the students were still just staring at us awkwardly.

"Jeez everyone give em a break will you?" A voice called out from behind us, causing most of the students to just scoff a bit before going back to minding their own business.

I turned around to the guy who saved us from the embarassment. He looked a little younger than we were and had slightly lengthy hair, though not as long as mine. He was sitting next to a girl in a wheelchair. She had beautiful long black hair, and she was extremely cute.

 _"Hmm...I think this is that same dude we saw earlier in the parking lot"_ I thought to myself. "Thanks dude. That was starting to make me feel awkward hahaha."

"Anytime." He extended his hand. "Name's Aoi Minase."

"Hayden Mirambell...though I'm sure you knew that from me just saying it." I chuckled a little before shaking his hand firmly.

"Frank Hyler." Frank nodded as he shook his hand after I did.

"Nice to meet you guys. This here is Kotori Habane." He pointed towards the girl in the wheelchair.

"Oh uh...hi." She gave a little wave to the both of us.

"Sup." I smiled.

"Nice to meet ya." Frank added.

"So, you guys like dating or something I'm assuming? I think I saw you guys earlier when Frank and I were standing in the parking lot." I said.

They both instantly tensed up and became extremely flustered.

"N-n-no just friends I assure you!" Aoi waved his arms.

Kotori just kind of looked upset a little, though I had just decided not to ask any further questions.

"Well, we would have introduced you to our friend Ageha, but she isn't here again today. She's still sick again I'm guessing?" Aoi looked towards Kotori, who just shrugged.

"How would I know?" She asked.

"Well you guys are best friends now you know!" Aoi smiled.

I looked down at my desk and squinted my eyes, deep in thought. _"Ageha...Dude...why the hell does that name sound so familiar."_

I had sat there for a few minutes and pondered about it, eventually brushing off the thought and turning back around towards the other three.

"So how long you have guys been here?" Frank asked.

"We're second year students!" Aoi exclamied.

"Sweet. Hayden and I are too. We had already finished our first year back in the U.S. at LSU." Frank said proudly.

"Yo, looks like Tobioka's about to come back in." I pointed him out.

"Hope you're ready to Math it up." Frank smirked.

"Bro, you know I don't even Math." I laughed.

After the hour of Math class ended, we had gotten a fifteen minute break. We ended up just talking with Aoi and Kotori the whole time. They ended up actually being pretty cool! Science had started next. Of course, this was my favorite subject so I absolutely breezed through it, though I'd have to say differently for Frank. When morning classes were over, we walked to the cafeteria alongside Aoi and Kotori and had lunch with them. They told us a little more about their friend Ageha from before, whom they usually dined with also. Every time I heard the name I couldn't help but feel more and more like I knew it from somewhere.

They were both really interesting people to talk to and I quickly found myself and Frank becoming friends with them. We had all walked back to class together for our evening classes. History, which Frank and I were both pretty good at, was straight after lunch. Then we had Business Economics as our last class of the day, which Frank and I had quickly discovered that we apparently suck absolute balls at.

I'd have to say though, Frank and I had a pretty successful first day. It definitely went a lot better than I would have expected it to. We made two pretty cool friends and got to learn a little bit about them as they did us. It was the end of the school day now and Frank and I were walking out of the doors along with Aoi and Kotori.

"So where do you guys actually live? Or do you just both stay at Flying Fish Manor like you said?" I asked.

"Well, I actually live in Tokyo. But I stay at Flying Fish Manor since it's much much closer to the school." Kotori quickly answered.

Frank and I both looked to Aoi after Kotori told us where she lived.

"I basically live at the manor with the other girls." Aoi scratched the back of his head.

"Ahh...do you now?" Frank had a smug grin on his face. "And how's that playing out big shot?"

"Aww come on, it's nothing like that. As embarassing as it is, I'm basically the dorm mother. Well, father in my case." Aoi shrugged.

"Dah we're just messing with ya. Nothing wrong with that dude, sounds pretty cool." I gave him a thumbs up.

"Why don't they come and have dinner with us Aoi?" Kotori asked.

"Hmm? Well I mean...sure. If that's okay with them?" He looked over to us.

"I don't want to impose." I said.

"Oh not at all! You can meet some of our other friends too." Kotori smiled.

"Sounds like a plan!" I gave them a thumbs up.

"Yo by the way since you guys were saying that you liked cars and all earlier, you guys checked the shop club out yet?" Aoi asked out of the blue.

"Hm? Nah we aren't in any clubs as of now." I said.

"Ah okay. I figured you guys would be in it since everybody in that club is all about cars and stuff. You can learn to put parts in and they even can teach you how to drive and everything! In fact there's a lot of kids who get their licences through the school. We saw these two really badass cars earlier in the parking lot too. Probably for the kids in shop."

"Sounds pretty cool I guess." Said Frank.

"Wanna see em just to get a general idea of what the guys in the club usually fool with?" Aoi raised his eyebrow.

"Uh sure?" Frank shrugged his shoulders and looked to me as if confirming that I had agreed.

"You know which guys they're for? I don't wanna look all suspicious looking at someone's cars." I said.

"Nah...but we should be fine." Aoi brushed it off. "Come on they're out here."

We had walked a little towards the back of the parking lot. After we had realized what was happening, Frank and I both just looked to one another and smiled.

"Well, here they are." Aoi pointed to them. "Most of the kids in the shop have cars like this. Though, these are just a tad nicer than the usual ones are."

"Heheh..." I just shook my head at him.

"What's so funny?" He cocked his head back.

"Uhh...Aoi?" I began to dig in my pocket pulling out my keys, clicking the unlock button and unlocking my car.

Frank followed right behind me and unlocked his car as well.

"...No way..." Aoi just laughed. "That is awesome! Seriously? These are yours? I didn't know you guys drove!"

"Haha yeah man. We are 22 ya know." I chuckled.

"Oh I didn't know that! I'm only 18." Said Aoi.

"Oh jeez. Youngster over here!" I teased, before getting into my car and starting it at the same time Frank did.

Both of our cars let out a low growl from the exhaust when we started them, startling both Aoi and Kotori a little.

"That is...so nice." Aoi was completely awestruck.

"They're...so loud!" Kotori exclaimed.

I kinda got a little carried away honestly. "Pff. Watch this." I revved my car to about 7,000 rpm's, making it scream much louder than before.

Frank took it upon himself and did the exact same, revving his car loudly. "So...whatcha think of that Aoi?" Needless to say I wasn't the only one who got carried away.

"My God...they're so badass man!" Aoi exclaimed. "I love em!"

"Thanks man. We tuned them ourselves." I said.

"Really? You guys put the parts on yourselves?" He asked.

"Yessir. Ordered them and installed them. We actually just got new exhausts and we're gonna be putting them on soon, so they're gonna be even louder." I smirked.

"They're putting out around 103 decibels right now. They'll be putting hopefully somewhere around 140 with the new ones." Frank said proudly.

Aoi whistled in astonishment. "That's...crazy."

"Yeah man it's gonna be awesome." Said Frank.

"So anyways, since we're gonna be having dinner with you guys, how about you hop in and take a ride and I'll show you a little of what this thing's got?" I gestured towards my passenger seat.

"Well I would but..." Aoi looked down at Kotori's wheelchair.

"Not a problem. That thing folds up right Kotori?" I asked.

"Y-Yeah it does but...I-I don't want to be a burden." She sounded a little embarassed.

"Oh please as if." I stepped out of my car and opened the passenger door, pushing the seat forwards. "Here Aoi, help me put her in."

"Alright." Aoi began to lift her gently as she clung to his body.

"Uhh...how am I supposed to uhh..." I pointed towards the two of them.

"It's cool I got it man, I'm used to this." Aoi smiled.

Kotori was blushing big time. She buried her face into Aoi's chest when she caught me looking at her and smirking.

 _"Pff...she totally digs him."_ I said to myself.

After we...well, after Aoi had put Kotori in, I had readjusted the seat for him so that he could sit as well after we put the wheelchair in my trunk.

"Alright then...we all set?" I looked to both of them.

"Sure man, whenever you're ready." Aoi nodded.

"Tori?" I looked towards the back seat.

"Y-Yeah...I'm ready." She sounded nervous.

"Don't worry, I won't go too fast. Unless you want me to." I smirked.

"Aw man this thing is a manual? Sweet...I've always wanted to learn how to drive one." Aoi studied my shift knob a bit.

"Yep, Civic Si's only come standard. Plus, that's all Frank and I drive anyway. Hell, I'll teach you whenever you want dude." I shrugged.

"Seriously?" He looked up, surprised.

"Hell yeah man, why not. I don't mind. If you want I'll take you to a parking lot or something after we eat and Frank and I will teach you a little and let you drive a bit."

"Alright awesome!" He perked up a bit.

"Alright then." I adjusted my mirrors and my seat and plugged my aux cord into my phone before slapping my shades on. "And we're off!"

 **Let me know how I'm doing with the new story so far guys! I'm curious to know what all my loyal followers think about something new like this, so be sure to leave a review and let me know what's up!**

 **If you're completely new to either of my stories, I'd like to hear your feedback too! Don't be scared to R &R guys, it's always greatly appreciated.**

 **Stay Awesome!**

 **-H**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Flying Fish Manor

After a short ten minute drive or so, we had finally come up to a dirt road and followed it up the hill to what looked to be an old mansion of some sort.

"Woah dude...this place looks creepy as hell." I peered through my front windshield. "This is seriously the manor?"

"Yeah. This is it." Aoi opened his door before pushing the seat forward and offering his hand to Kotori, who seemed a bit dazed.

I walked to the back of my car and opened the trunk, taking out her wheelchair and unfolding it to where it was now useable. Frank got out of his car and locked it, walking over to where we were.

"You uh...you alright Kotori?" Aoi cocked his head back.

"S-so fast..." She was a bit shaken.

"Hey Aoi told me to race Frank so I did!" I tried to sound as innocent as possible.

"Hey you can't blame it all on me!" Frank chuckled.

Aoi grabbed on to her gently and set her back down in her wheelchair. "There...better?"

She just nodded and smiled.

Aoi turned his attention back towards me. "Yeah, definitely can't wait to learn to drive man."

"I still stick by my promise man. We can head out as soon as we're done eating if you still want to."

He just nodded before leading Frank and I into the the dormitory. "Everyone! We have guests! And they're from the U.S.!" He shouted.

After a brief moment, two girls were seen entering the main hall. They were both pretty cute. Though as soon as they looked up and caught attention of Frank and I, they gasped in surprise and bolted back into the hallway.

"Uhh...what?" I laughed at their funny behavior.

"Well, so much for a first impression." Frank chuckled.

[In Japanese] "Ohmygosh, Aoi didn't say they were gonna be guys!" The first girl whispered.

She had shoulder length hair which bore a very slight purplish tint which she wore in a short braid. She was sporting a second year Keifuu Academy uniform.

[In Japanese] "Uhh yeah! And he also didn't say that they were gonna be really hot either!" The second girl said.

She had somewhat short raven colored hair. She was sporting a light blue shirt with a skirt. She was pretty short also.

"Oh shit, did she just say something about a fire?!" I looked at Aoi for clarification.

"Uhh...heh...n-no that isn't what she uhh...*Ahem*." Aoi sounded kind of embarassed. "Uh Yuka? Ryouko? How about you two actually introduce yourselves? They don't bite ya know."

[In Japanese] "Hmm...wouldn't mind if they did..." The purple haired girl whispered something.

{In Japanese] "You said it sister!" The short raven haired girl shouted.

Aoi just shot the both of them a look and grumbled.

"I gotta say, I don't know what the fuck is being said right now." I began to laugh a bit.

Frank nodded along. "Right? Like, you could tell me that they called you a flaming douche canoe, and I'd believe it hahahah."

"I mean, I did say that they said something about a fire!" I added.

The other two girls had chuckled a bit as well before extending their hands.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Yuka!" The purple haired girl smiled before shaking Frank and I's hands.

"Pleasure." I nodded

"I'm Ryouko!" The raven haired girl quickly hopped in front of Frank and I to shake our hands as well.

"Nice to meet the two of you." Frank smiled.

"Kanako-San, come down for dinner and meet our guests! And for God's sake do not come down here in your underwear! Please..put some clothes on!" Aoi shouted towards upstairs before letting out a sigh and looking back to Frank and I.

We both just shot him a look and shook our heads, giggling a bit.

"What?" He asked.

"Bro, I'm not even gonna ask about any of what you just said." I snickered.

"Trust me, you'd understand everythng if you knew Kanako." He smiled.

"...Fair enough." I shrugged.

"Yo Aoi, bathroom?" Frank asked.

"First door on the left." Aoi pointed.

"Awesome thanks." Frank quickly hurried over to the bathroom.

"Just knock and make sure nobody's in there!" Aoi added.

"Alright will do!" Frank called from in front of the bathroom before knocking and slowly entering successfully.

All of a sudden a door was heard upstairs being opened, then shut quickly after. A girl suddenly came into view, quickly descending the stairs. She had very long, beautiful dirty blonde hair and a thin figure with large...attributes. She seemed to have a very cheery personality, and she was really pretty too.

[In Japanese] "Coming Aoi-Kun! Sorry I didn't know we had guests, I just had to put on my clothes." The girl whom I assumed was Kanako, had stopped at the bottom of the stairs right in front of me and smiled.

"Kanako-San, this is Hayden. One of the new foriegn exchange students here at Keifuu. He's from the United States!" Aoi exclaimed.

She extended her hand in an instant. She seemed not to care as much as the others did about the fact that I was a guy. She was apparently a bit more of a free spirit.

"Hello Hayden, I'm Kanako Shigure!"

I shook her hand just as I did the others and smiled, nodding.

She turned her attention towards Aoi after our greeting. "So Aoi...I thought you said that you had guests? As in multiple pe-"

Frank then emerged from the bathroom and galloped his way on back over to us. "Yo Aoi you guys got a freaking hot tub here? That's so awesome!" He then caught attention of the girl in front of us.

She stood completely frozen and just stared dead at Frank. HARD. "Uh...hh..mmm.."

Frank just kind of cocked his head back in confusion, before slowly extending his hand. "Uh, hi I'm Frank. And you must be..."

"K-Kanako..." She never took her gaze of of him as she lazily extended her hand towards his, dazed.

"Right! The one Aoi was just calling down." Frank smiled.

I looked at Kanako and squinted a bit. I was trying to figure out her sudden change in tone, though I just brushed it off. "Hey Aoi, so when are we gonna get to try your 'Fantastic Cooking' as Kotori calls it." I smiled as I made a quotation mark gesture with my hands.

"Oh you don't believe I can cook huh smartass?" Aoi raised his eyebrow.

"Not until proven son!" I laughed along with him.

"Heh, I see you three are already quick to get along!" Kotori smiled.

"But of course!" Frank said matter-of-factly.

We all walked into the kitchen and chatted amongst each other while Aoi and Kotori prepared the food. Yuka and Ryouko were absolutely bombarding Frank and I with questions regarding to our language and lifestyle back in the U.S., along with Sanae, another girl who lives in the dorm, who showed up a little late.

The only one who wasn't really engaging in coversation too much, or at all really, was Kanako.

"Hey." Aoi called to her.

She was still just dazed, looking out of the window.

"Kanako?" Aoi called once again, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh...hmm? I-I'm sorry Aoi, I was just thinking." She said.

"What's up with you? You're acting different than normal. It's kinda weird." Aoi sounded concerned.

"Oh no I'm fine, It's nothing I promise! But...uh...d-do you have Frank's number by any chance?" She blushed super hard when she realized what she had said. "I-I mean like to uh...get in touch with him just in case I can't get in touch with you or something."

Aoi shot her a look and then caught on, causing him to smirk. "Heh...is that so? Tell me Kanako...what do you think about Frank?"

"I-I mean I don't know, I don't really know him, but he seems really nice I guess..." She shrugged.

"You know, he told me he doesn't have a girlfriend or anything." Aoi smirked even harder.

Kanako's face became more and more red by the second.

"Why don't you ask him on a date?" Aoi suggested. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Kanako just made a grumbling sound out of embarassment. "I...I don't know..."

"I doubt he'd mind. He's a really cool guy. They both are." Aoi looked over to Frank and smirked a bit before turning his attention back over to Kanako. "I say you go for it."

"Uhh...I...I don't know if I can do that. It's...embarrasing." She tried to hide the blush on her face.

"So when are we gonna get to ride in your cars?" Yuka asked me.

"Uhh...heh I-I dunno I guess whenever we're all free or something?" I had a cheesy smile on my face.

"No fair, Aoi gets to drive it after they eat!" Ryouko folder her arms.

"I get the front seat first!" Sanae raised her hand.

"Uhh...it's okay girls, we'll take you guys for a ride soon, I promise!" I laughed.

"Fine, we're gonna hold you two to that!" Ryouko stuck her tongue out at us.

Aoi just looked back over to Kanako, smirking even harder than before. "Heh...you'd better hurry up before one of those three get to him first."

Kanako just shot him a glare, before actually giving it some real thought. "I-I mean...I guess I could give it a-"

"Great! Do it after we're all finished eating before we leave." Aoi gave her a thumbs up, before grabbing all of the food and setting it up on the table.

I just stared at the different types of food in front of me before looking at one of the pots in particular. "Aoi...is that soba noodles and beef?"

"Oh, yeah it is. You actually know what that is?" He asked.

"Uh...yes! Dude Frank and I get that shit all the time back at one of the Japanese restaurants that we used to eat at. That stuff is great."

"Looks like we gotta put it to the test since Aoi cooked it!" Frank chuckled.

"Alright then asshole go for it!" He joked.

Frank and I grabbed quite the large portion of noodles and sat the full bowls in front of us, looking towards each other.

"Well, moment of truth man." I twirled a few noodles into my fork and slurped them up quickly.

"Here goes." Frank grabbed a few noodles as well with his fork, slurping them up right after me.

We both chewed and savored them for a couple seconds before swallowing the noodles. After a few more seconds, we both just looked to one another and slowly started to smile and nod.

"So?" Aoi asked.

We both simply chuckled and held our fists out towards Aoi, who just smiled and fistbumped us.

"Honestly, that shit was so good that it made me feel happy inside." Said Frank.

"I hate to admit it Aoi, but your noodles...are actually better than the ones we used to get back home. I gotta tip my hat to you on that one sir." I then literally tipped my hat, causing him to laugh even harder.

"Hah...thanks guys, glad you like it. Alright everyone, let's eat!" Aoi shouted.

We all began to dig into the large amounts of food. We had soba noodles and beef, some pork dumplings, orange chicken and seared tuna. Everything was just all around fantastic. After we all had eaten, Frank and I helped Aoi with cleaning up and picking up all of the dishes.

"And we are good to go!" Aoi gave a thumbs up.

"Alright man...you ready?" I asked him.

"I'm a bit nervous...but yeah. I'm ready when you are." Aoi nodded.

"Cool. Let's go then!" Frank exclaimed, running towards the door.

Aoi had leaned in towards Kanako when he had passed her on the way to the door. _"Now's your chance."_ He whispered.

She nodded lightly and swallowed hard. "*Sigh*...Uhh...Frank?" She called out.

"That's my name." He smiled.

"Uhh..." She just stood there, frozen. Her face grew redder each passing second.

"Kanako?" Frank raised his eyebrow.

She had suddenly snapped back into reality when he called her name. "Uhh...Thanks for helping with the food tonight!"

"Huh? But...I didn't..."

"Bye!" She hurriedly ran back upstairs and into her room.

"Uhh...alright then?" Frank chuckled lightly and shook his head before walking out the front door with me.

Aoi just facepalmed before following us shortly after. _"And...she totally blew it."_

 **Holy crap. Two chapters in a day? Like a bauss.**

 **Please as always, R &R it up for me you fantastic people. It always helps!**

 **Stay awesome guys!**

 **-H**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Cell Phone Girl

 **[The Next Day In School]**

"Well this is awesome! Tobioka isn't here today!" I said, taking my seat with my best friend.

"Hm? Really? How do you know?" Aoi asked.

"Went and talked to Principal Miyako for a little while before class, he told us that he had some business to take care of or something and that he won't be here today." I grinned.

"No substitute?" Aoi raised his eyebrow.

"Nope! So we get to chill out first and second period basically." Frank high fived me.

"Sweet, that's what I'm talking about bro!" I set my bookbag next to my chair.

All of the other kids already had their cell phones and tablets out, watching videos and playing games or something along those lines. Both Ina and Akira who sat in front of us had turned around towards us after a bit.

"Hehe...hey Hayden." Akira smiled at me.

"Uh...hey Akira." I lightly smiled.

"Hey there Frank..." Ina blushed a bit. She seemed a bit more bashful than her friend.

"Sup girl." Frank smiled, then quickly began rummaging around his backpack for a bit. "Where the hell did I...ah! There it is." He then pulled out a blue handheld system and smirked at me.

"Ohhhhhh shiiit! Is it time?" I turned my head as I asked.

He simply nodded. "It's time."

I then rummaged through my backpack, before pulling out my 3DS as well, also being blue. We had the same favorite color actually. We had always brought our DSes almost everywhere we went in case of extreme boredom. There was never a time where we had passed a chance to hit up some Monster Hunter.

"Oh dude, you guys have 3DSes?" Aoi cocked his head back.

"Fuck yeah we got 3DSes!" Frank exclaimed.

Aoi then dug in his pack for a second before pulling out a special edition silver Monster Hunter 3DS, shocking Frank and I a bit. We both wanted one so damn bad but could literally never find one for sale ANYWHERE.

"Dude...I WAS...about to ask you if you played Monster Hunter...but you just answered my question." Frank shook his head in astonishment.

I was nonetheless just as amazed. "Aoi...I'm so jealous bro."

"Yeah I gotta admit I really like it. So...we doing this?" He asked.

"Dear God yeah were doing this, that's not even a question." I opened my DS up and started up the game with Frank and Aoi.

We ended up playing for the whole first period straight. Kotori had been watching Aoi play while Ina and Akira had actually gotten up after the first few minutes and stood by me and Frank, watching our screens for about 30 minutes before sitting down at their desks and playing with their phones again.

After first period was over, we were just about to start our 5th hunt, until Frank and I's stomachs began to grumble a bit.

"Hey dude, Hayden and I are gonna go get us one of those melon sodas and another weird ass bagel thingy. You guys want a soda and a weird ass bagel thingy?" Frank looked towards Aoi and Kotori as he stood.

"Weird ass bagel thi...Are you talking about the Hokkaido Rolls?" Aoi asked.

"Uhh...maybe? It was like...kinda greenish and tasted really sweet. They're friggin fantastic." Frank looked like he was ready to drool.

Aoi began to laugh a little. "Pff...guys...those are green tea flavored Hokkaido Rolls. They're definitely not bagels..."

"Green Tea!" Frank and I shouted together.

"Dammit THAT was it!" Frank exclaimed.

"Friggin green tea...I knew that flavor tasted familiar!" I felt relieved that it was finally revealed to us.

"Anyways, you guys want one? Or just a soda? Or just the bagel? Or both?" Frank looked to them once again.

"Yeah, I'll take a green tea one too, I have my water here to drink though. Thanks!" Aoi smiled.

"Tori?" I looked towards her.

"S-Sure if you don't mind...banana nut flavor please? Its the yellow bag with the banana picture on it. And uhh...a strawberry soda too please. Thank you guys!" She seemed just as appreciative as Aoi.

"Woah...they have banana nut flavor?" I looked over to Frank. "Wellp. Looks like I'm getting that one too."

"Hell yeah I'm in." Frank nodded.

I then turned towards the girls who sat in front of us. _"Hope these two don't get the wrong idea."_

"Uhh, you girls want us to get you a Hokkaido roll and a soda? Were gonna go get some for us four, just wanted to see if you guys wanted something since we're going there anyway." I pointed to the door.

They both just smiled and blushed.

"Aww...you're really sweet Hayden. Thank you." Akira blushed.

"Thank you guys...we'll both take a fig flavored one with a vanilla soymilk if you don't mind. Hold up just...let me find my..." Ina began taking out her wallet.

"Oh nonono, our treat." Frank smiled.

"Oh no I couldn't..." Ina insisted on handing Frank the money.

But of course, that wasn't going to work on us. "Trust me, we could and we will, so you might as well put that up. Trust me, we got this." Frank gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thanks guys, you're sooooo sweet." Ina blushed as well now.

 _"Well, so much for not giving them the wrong idea."_ I thought.

"Yyyyeah. No problem. Come on man let's go get this stuff, I'm hungry." Frank began walking down the steps in the classroom.

"Roger that." I followed close behind him.

After we had walked out, Aoi had checked his phone. "Oh? I got a message from Ageha?" He opened the phone to read it.

 _-I'm finally coming back today Aoi! So you and Kotori better be ready to help me catch up! Lol. ~Ageha_

"Oh cool!" He looked towards Kotori. "Ageha texted me about half an hour ago and said she's gonna be here today."

"It's about time! She's been gone for three days now!" Kotori stated.

"I'm gonna text her and see where she's at real quick." Aoi opened the message once again to reply.

 _-Kotori and I have been waiting on you to come back! No teacher today so we've just been chatting with some new friends. You'll get to meet them soon too! Where are you?_ _~Aoi_

She replied a minute or so later.

 _-Coming down the hall now, you'll see me in like five seconds lol. ~Ageha_

"She said she's here and...ah, speak of the devil." Aoi gestured towards the door where Ageha was seen entering.

She waved at the two of them before walking up the stairs, also greeting Ina and Akira who she was also apparently friends with, before taking her seat next to Aoi. "Hey guys!"

"About time you come back! I was beginning to get lonely with just Kotori" Aoi teased.

"Hey!" She shot him a glare.

"I'm kidding I'm kidding." Aoi put his hands up, before he felt his phone go off again. "Oh? Who's texting me now?"

 _-Duuuuude...they're out of the goddamn green tea ones. :,( ~Hayden_

"Aww man." Aoi suddenly pouted.

"What happened?" Ageha asked.

"My friend just texted me and said they're out of the green tea hokkaido." Aoi frowned before texting back.

"Wait, you got their numbers?" Kotori asked.

"Oh, yeah. Last night we exchanged them." Aoi looked back as his phone.

 _-Crap...I was looking forward to that one. Alright, I'll just go with a fig one then. ~Aoi_

"That your new friend you were telling me about?" Ageha asked.

"Yeah that's one of them." He nodded.

"One of them?" She looked confused.

"Uh yeah. There's two new students here. Foreign exchange students from the U.S. They're really cool."

"The...U.S.?" She cocked her head back in surprise.

"And super nice! Nice enough to buy me, Aoi, Ina and Akira all hokkaido and a drink!" Kotori added.

"Aww...and not me?" Ageha chuckled.

"Hey you weren't here...so you missed out!" Aoi teased her.

"Uhuh...so do I get to meet these U.S. friends of yours?" She asked.

"Well duh. As soon as they get back you'll meet them. They sit right in front of us anyway." Aoi pointed to our seats. "Hold on, got another message."

 _-Alright broski. Frank and I'll be back in T-minus 30 seconds. ~Hayden_

"That them again?" Ageha glanced over towards Aoi's phone, letting out a little gasp as soon as she had seen the name on the screen.

 _"H-Hayden?...Wait...foreign exchange students from...there's is no way..."_ Ageha seemed to be in another world.

"Earth to Ageha?" Aoi waved his hand in front her face.

"Oh...sorry I was just...thinking about something."

Aoi just laughed a little at her behavior before glancing down at the bottom of the steps. "Hey there they are."

Ageha quickly looked down towards the two students on the steps next to Ina and Akira. They both had food and drinks in their hands which was covering their faces. Ageha waited in utter suspense as they turned their backs to give the other girls their food and drink. As soon as they were done and had turned around...

"Oh...my God..." Ageha covered her mouth, embarassed that she spoke aloud.

"What's wrong?" Aoi asked, a bit concerned.

Ageha quickly put her head down and moved her book in front her face like she was reading.

Kotori quickly pushed the book down. "What are you d-"

"No Kotori wait!" Ageha quickly became flustered. Her face began to grow red as well.

"Alright...here ya go Kotori." Frank lay her things atop the desk.

"And for my man Aoi over h-" I quickly noticed a familiar face sittning next to Kotori, ducking down. "Hey! Cell phone girl!" I laughed.

"Huh?" Aoi shot me a look.

I had to explain the story of what happened at the mall the other day briefly to them.

"So, Ageha almost dropped her phone in your food?" Aoi began to giggle a bit.

"Ohhhh...So this is that Ageha chick you were telling us about! Hah, what a weird coincidence I had no idea it was the girl from the mall!" Frank exclaimed.

I just looked down a bit, thinking to myself. There was that name again. Every time that I heard it, it just sounded more and more like I had already known it somehow. "So...you're Ageha then..."

She mustered up a small amount of courage and looked me dead in the eyes after a bit, face still red as can be. She suddenly began to stand up and walk towards me.

It honestly startled me a bit. Though it had creeped me out more than anything. This was the exact thing she did to me in the mall, though she wasn't as close then. This time...she was now dead in front of me.

She looked straight into my eyes and then turned to the side a bit. "Y...You...really don't remember?" She looked back at me once more, with sincereness in her eyes.

I just cocked my head back...waiting for her to say something else. I couldn't bring myself to speak since I was so curious at this whole thing, so I just waited.

"*Sigh*...It has been...a long time." She looked down to her side yet again. "Do you...at least even remember those words the three of us exchanged?"

"W...what? Three of us...words..." All of a sudden, out of nowhere it had hit me like a ton of bricks.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Old Friends

-Flashback-

 **[12 Years Ago]**

"But...Dad I don't want to go!" I cried my eyes out. I had gotten so use to it over here, that I basically considered Kazegaura my home now.

"I know son...but we have to. I have to go back to the U.S. now since the business that I had to take care of over here is completed." He said.

"It's not fair!" I pouted and folded my arms. "W...what am I supposed to tell Ageha and Hotaru? They're my friends and I don't want to go away from them!"

"Son...you still have Frank...he's been your best friend since you were two."

"But I wanna have them too! I don't want to go Dad!" I continued crying, begging him not to leave.

"*Sigh*...son..." My Dad crouched down to my height and hugged me tightly. "Do you want to go and see them one more time so you can properly tell them goodbye?"

I knew that no matter what I had said, my Dad would have to go back anyway because of work. It was the reason that I was crying so much...I knew that there was no way out of it. I just looked at my Dad and nodded my head, drying the tears the best that I could before seeing them again.

I took what seemed like the longest walk of my life down the road to the Himegi household, even though they only lived a few houses down from where we were staying. After a while, I finally came to their doorstep, just staring blankly at the door. Hesitating at first, I finally mustered up the energy to be able to knock.

Miss Himegi came to the door shorty after. "Ahh...Hayden-Chan! Come to see the girls?"

"Umm...y-yes ma'am." I just turned away, trying to prevent the tears from escaping again.

"Is...something wrong?" She put a hand on my shoulder.

"I...I have really bad news Ms. Himegi." I kept my gaze where it was before. Dead at the ground.

"Tell me...what's the matter?" She had nothing but sincerity in her voice.

I could feel my lip quivering. It took everything that I had in me not to cry. "My Dad...has to go back to the U.S. tomorrow..."

She instantly had a look of disappointment on her face. She had gotten so close to me over the past years of me being over there constantly. "Oh dear...I...I see. Well...Ageha and Hotaru aren't going to take this very well.." She looked down at me. "They really think highly of you...as do I. It's going to be a shame not being able to have you around anymore. Are you...absolutely sure that he has to leave?"

"Y-Yes ma'am. Unfortunately."

"I see...*sigh* well, should I go and get them now?" She asked.

I just simply nodded in utter disappointment.

"Alright...I'll be right back. I'm...sorry that this is happening Hayden." She turned around as soon as her voice began cracking a bit, walking into the hallway from what I could see.

Shortly after, both Ageha and Hotaru showed up at the door and smiled when they saw me.

I only wish that I could do the same.

"Hey Hayden!" Hotaru ran over first to give me a hug.

"Hey I was in front of you!" Ageha scolded her sister, before hugging me as well.

I didn't give much of anything back...I just couldn't. It felt like there was a huge cloud above my head, raining nothing but heavy thoughts and emotions onto me. "I...need to tell you two something important."

"What is it?" Ageha continued smiling at me, awaiting what I had to say.

That just made it ten times harder. I had to just come straight out with it, nothing held back. "I'm leaving tomorrow with my Dad to go back to the U.S. I have no choice...he said that he's finished all of the work here that needed to be done and so...we're leaving tomorrow to go back home..."

They both got wide eyed and stayed completely silent. We all stood there for a few minutes without saying anything at all, until Ageha was unable to hold it in anymore.

"That's stupid! Stupid stupid stupid! Why do you have to go!?" She burst into tears.

"Ageha...I'm sorry...I don't want to go either! But...I have to..."

"NO! Your Dad is...he's just stupid!" She cried.

"It's not his fault...it's his job..." I said.

"No! You can't go Hayden! You...you just..." She began to whimper before she hugged me suddenly.

"I'm so sorry girls...please trust me...there's nothing that I can do..."

"I-I know but..." Ageha had her head down in defeat. "Hayden...promise me one thing...promise...you'll come back soon...please."

"I...don't know if I can..."

She looked at me dead in the eyes and shook her head before running back into the house quickly.

"Ageha wait!...*Sigh*." I turned my attention towards the younger sister, who was still just staring at me blankly. "H-Hotaru?"

"Are you really leaving Hayden..." She kept a very monotone voice, still gazing directly at me without moving.

"Yeah...I am. I have to...I'm really sorry Hotie..." I shook my head once again in disappointment.

She just stared at me for a bit before she began to sniffle a little. "But...h-how are we gonna get married...i-if you leave m-me behind..." She had always swore that she would marry me even though she was only five.

I tried my hardest to smile at her remark, but I just couldn't...I was too upset. "I'm sorry Hotie...I..."

She began to get much more teary eyed now, looking at me and shaking her head. She was...so disappointed in me. Suddenly she burst into tears, following her sisters steps and running inside, shutting the door behind her quickly.

I just stood there motionless. This is what I had to leave on. They both hated me and I left them crying because of me...these were the last things that I'd ever be able to say or do to them. These were our last words last spoken to one another. Nothing had been said or done ever since that very day.

-End Flashback-

 **[Back To Present Day]**

I just stared blankly into nothingness. I was too lost in my thoughts to remember what was going on.

"Hayden?" Ageha called my name, finally breaking me out of my trance.

"Y-You said..." I stared at her in awe. "You made me promise to come back soon..."

Her eyes grew wide as she quickly shortened the distance between us and brought me into a tight hug. "Hayden...you remembered..." She finally began to smile a little as she teared up.

"My God...Ageha...I never thought I'd see you again! Yet...here you are! Hugging me 12 years later!" I shook my head and smiled. "But...I gotta ask you...you knew that it was me that day in the mall didn't you? That's why you were about to say my name weren't you! And...that's why you knew to speak English without me saying anything, huh?"

"Yeah...but I didn't want to make it akward. I could see that you didn't remember me, I had just figured that you had forgotten all about me and moved on to better things in life."

"Forgotten? No. Lost in my memory a little maybe, but NEVER...forgotten. But...how did you know?" I looked up at her suddenly with a burst of enthusiasm.

"I guess I've just always had that kind of connection to you. I just...knew. From the second I saw your eyes, it instantly dawned on me. There was no mistaking it."

"Wow...that's crazy...Oh yeah! Hotaru! How's little Hotie?" I blurted.

She just chuckled at me. "She's not so little anymore you know! She has different classes than we do, if you're wondering why she isn't here...but...Hayden can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go for it." I shrugged.

Without any hesitation, she looked up to me. "I want you to come with me to the mall to the sports store when we get out of school. Just the two of us."

"Heheh...Did you just ask my bro out on a date in front of everyone?" Frank raised an eyebrow.

"Aww...come on how come Ageha gets to go on a date with Hayden? That's not fair." Akira pouted.

She began to get seriously embarassed. "No! Not a date! Just...I just want to catch up with my old friend that's all!"

"Sounds to me like you're getting a little nervous there Ageha. You don't...LIKE...Hayden do you? Frank smirked.

She just turned away, blushing big time. "Uhh...I-I..."

"Come on Frank let her be. She just wants to catch up that's all. Ageha has never liked me like that, she's always been just one of my best friends. Plus it's been 12 YEARS. Did you forget that part?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Hey...I thought I was your best friend." Frank folded his arms and shot me a look.

"You are! B-But...she was too back then..." I defended.

"Wait Hayden...Is this the same Frank that you used to tell me about when we were young?" She asked.

"Yep! Same one since day one. It sucks that he never got to meet you back then."

"Wait woah...this is THAT Ageha?!" He asked with a very intrigued look.

"Yeah, it is dude. The girl who you never got to meet. The one you always called the mystery girl hahaha."

"Hey don't blame me for that, my Dad was strict as shit what do you expect?" Frank shrugged.

"Yeah no kidding, he literally wouldn't let you go anywhere. I always had to come over to your house to play."

"So that's why I never met him..." Said Ageha.

"Yeah. Pretty much. Sooo...the mall after school huh?" I asked her once more.

"Yes...right after school." She smiled.

"Alright, sounds good to me!" I gave her a thumbs up.

Frank and Aoi both secretely looked at one another and grew a cocky ass smile on each of their faces.

"Jeez Ageha, aren't you the lucky one." Akira shot her a look, causing her to blush again.

"It...it's not even like that okay." She began to blush even harder.

"Hmmph...you say one thing, but your face says differently." Ina shot her a look and smirked.

Ageha looked at me once again. I had noticed shortly and just gave her a friendly smile, but she just turned away from me, still blushing...and I couldn't figure out why.

"Psst." Suddenly Aoi called from behind me.

"Hm?" I looked over my shoulder.

"Heh...so you and Ageha eh?" He whispered.

I shot him a look and glanced over at Ageha, who was just talking with Kotori. "You kidding right? She's literally always been a best friend to me."

"Uhuh...suuuure." Aoi winked.

"You're the one to talk. Aren't YOU the one who like...told her you wanted to go out with her or whatever a few years back? This is that same Ageha that you told me that story about, riiiiight?" I smirked.

"Yeah...but that was back then when I liked her and...I was younger. Now it's changed though...she's really just my best friend. We both decided that it would be for the best to stay friends anyways." Aoi shrugged.

"My point exactly." I folded my arms, proud to win the argument. Or so I thought.

"You're quite right, that is the point. The point being that things change. I liked her at first and NOW we're best friends...just like you DIDN"T...like her at first...but now..."

I had cut him short as quick as I could. "NOW...we're STILL just friends. I'm sorry dude, but that's the way it's gonna stay. Same goes for her sister before you decide to say something about her too. Always been friends, always will be."

Aoi just shook his head and smiled. "Yeah alright, we'll see about that after your...date." He said the last part with a cocky tone.

I looked at him stupid and snickered a bit. "Yeah yeah...whatever you say tottle tits."

By the end of the day when all of our classes were over, I walked out with the two guys as we bullshitted a bit. I high fived Frank and Aoi and saw them off while Aoi had smirked at me and made some smartass comment again about me and Ageha, though I just ignored it and shook my head. After another minute or so, she came out of the classroom with Kotori. They saw each other off and Ageha cautiously walked up to me.

"Hey girl...ready?" I asked.

"Uh...y-yeah. I'm ready." She looked away from me.

I just looked at her weird. "Something wrong?"

She quickly shook her head and her tone became more cheery. "Nope! Let's go!"

I just chuckled at the way she was being. She hadn't changed a bit. "Alright, come on."

We both walked out of the doors and she quickly began walking towards where the street was, and in the opposite direction of my car.

"Uhh...where ya goin?" I raised my eyebrow.

"Umm...we're walking to the mall?" She looked at me confused.

I just giggled before taking out my keys, jingling them.

"You...drive?" She asked.

"I'm 22 A-megs...you think I wouldn't be driving by now?" I scoffed.

She just glared at me.

"What?" I asked, though I knew why she was scorning me. It just caused me to giggle even more.

"Ugh...I always hated when you called me that. It makes me feel like you still think I'm a kid." She pouted.

"No you didn't. You only hated it for like...the first week I called you that. Then...it totally grew on you. Besides, I always thought it suited you perfectly. It made you sound so cute!" I teased her.

She just folded her arms and murmured to herself. "Hmph...you'd always deny it when I'd ask if I was cute..."

"What'd you say?" I turned back towards her, barely catching what she had whispered.

"Nothing! Heheh...mall time!" She began skipping cheerfully ahead of me, causing me to just shake my head at her playful behavior.

"Heh...still my old best friend I see." I said, following right behind her.

We got towards the end of the parking lot to where there was only one other car parked aaaaaaallllll the way to the back by itself.

She suddenly began to slow down a bit before turning around towards me. "You...you're kidding me, right?" She quickly glanced at the lone car once more then turned back towards me, wide eyed, pointing over her shoulder. "That's YOUR car?!"

I just smirked and unlocked the car with the button on the remote, yet again a little too proud of myself for it. But hey, I worked hard as hell for that thing, so I was allowed to at least boast a little right?

"Oh. My. God. It's...it's awesome!" She said, circling my car.

"Pff...you gonna get in the thing or what?" I laughed as I opened my door and sat in the drivers seat, pressing my foot down onto the clutch and starting it. I had given it a few revs as well, only adding to the bit of boasting that I was doing.

She jumped a little when I had revved it. "Oh shit!"

"Right? Hahah." I looked over to her once more. "You gonna get in or what?"

"Oh! Right." She opened my passenger door and hopped inside, shutting it gently and putting her seatbelt on. "Wow...this thing is really nice Hayden...I'm proud of you!" She ruffled her fingers through my long hair.

"Ah...ggh...stop it ya turd!" I swatted her hand away playfully.

"Aww...but your hair is soft..." She pouted.

"Yeah yeah...come on. Let's go to the mall." I said as I lowered the e-brake.

"Right." She nodded.

I then slapped my car into first, taking off out of the parking lot and heading towards Windy Mall with Ageha.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: An Unexpected Encounter

"Come on, we need to hurry!" Ageha grabbed my hand.

I was still trying to plead for her to let me go into the shoe store. "Dude...but I want those friggin black and blue vans! They're so badass! Can I please just go try em on real quick an-"

"After! I promise! But seriously come on we need to go!" She drug me through the crowd of people and stepped onto the escalator, still holding my hand.

I had just glanced down to our hands before looking up to her and giving her a questionable look.

She had finally realized what she was doing and quickly took her hand back in embarassment. "Oh...u-uhh..."

"So uh...what's the big rush anyway?" I decided to try and break the awkward mood.

"Oh...uh I actually have to be there before 4 or he'll kill me! I come here to help him right after school every day." She smirked.

"To help who? Who'll kill you?" It was seriously driving me insane that she wouldn't tell me what the hell we were doing.

"You'll see!" She grinned.

After heading up the escalator and passing the food court we had come up to the store, finally. I looked up and read the sign aloud. "Himegi Sports...Oh shit! Dude!" I looked at Ageha for confirmation. "Your Dad's old sports store is here in the new mall now?"

"Heheh...yup. He still owns it after all this time. It's still doing really good businesswise too!" She exclaimed.

"That's awesome. So wait...your Dad is here then huh? Was that the surprise for me?" I asked.

"Yep!" Ageha then lead me inside with her. "Hey Dad I'm here! And I've got a little someone who'd like to see you!"

Suddenly a tall, burly man had arisen from behind the counter, cocking his head back at Ageha when he caught notice of me. He hastily walked over to the two of us, looking me up and down thoroughly as if analyzing me. It was always like him to be that way, he was super crazy protective of his daughters...that's why it always felt so special that I've always gotten along so well with the whole family back then, especially him.

"Heh...what's up Mr. Himegi?" I extended my hand.

He just stared at me blankly before looking towards Ageha. [In Japanese] "You bring this young man in front of me today...this...young man whom I don't know. To...what?"

"Dad..." Ageha continued smiling.

His tone of voice sounded quite agitated. It was beginning to worry me just a little.

[In Japanese] "To...'What's Up' me? Not a very good for a first impression if you ask-"

"Dad!" Ageha raised her voice just to get his attention.

[In Japanese] "What? Why are you speaking English all of a sudden?...Well Ageha-Chan?!" His voice definitely sounded pissy.

Ageha just shook her head. "It's Hayden, Dad."

[In Japanese] "What? What does that even mean? What do you mean it-" He suddenly stopped mid sentence as if the realization just smacked him dead in the face. He slowly turned to me, mouth agape.

I still had my hand held out, out of respect. Though it may have been shaking a little now from how nervous I was. "Umm..."

He suddenly walked up directly in front of me. "H...Hayden?"

I just smiled lightly. "Been a long time huh Mr. H?"

"HA!" He slapped my back before pulling me into a hug. "Hayden! My God it's...it's been almost...what? Fifteen or some odd years?"

"Yep! Well uh...it's actually been 12. I'm 22 now!" I said from under his arm. He was really tall, like seriously. Mr. Himegi was definitely not someone I'd want to fuck with, which was yet another reason that I was so happy to be on his good side.

"Jeez man...look at you! You're all grown up! Keeping in shape too I see eh?" He made a pose and flexed his muscle to mess with me.

"Aw come on Mr. H. My best friend and I only work out sometimes!" I laughed.

"Very good! Hold up uh...hold up just a second okay?" He quickly ran to the back room.

A low, young sounding voice could be heard from the storeroom. [In Japanese] "What's wrong? Why are you jumpy?"

[In Japanese] "Come out here real quick hurry! You're never gonna believe who's here!"

"The hell is he doing back there?" Ageha chuckled.

Mr. Himegi quickly ran back out and just smiled at me, folding his arms.

"Why is he looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Beats me. You're probably in troubllllllleeeee." She teased.

Suddenly, someone else had come from the storeroom. It was a young girl. She looked almost completely similar to Ageha, with slightly lighter reddish brown shoulder length hair. She had two yellow looking round objects on each side of the ends of her locks, holding them in something like a ponytail on each side. She was wearing a white/pinkish dress with little flowers on it. As soon as she had saw me standing there, she let out a small gasp and her eyes grew twice the size they were before.

"Pff yeah right. Your Dad loves me dude. Plus I didn't do anything anyw-" As soon as I locked eyes with her, I simply found myself at a loss of words. Literally. They were just...gone. I literally didn't even remember what I was going to say, and I could care less.

Never in my life, have I seen anyone so beautiful. She was literally perfect. What's even more strange was that even though I knew nothing about this mysterious girl, I felt like I had known everything about her. We both just stared at each other in awe, which made Ageha make some sort of annoyed grunt, until Mr. Himegi finally had broken the silence.

"Do you know who that is Hotaru?" Mr. Himegi smiled.

She simply nodded her head almost barely enough to even notice. She never took her gaze off of me.

I could swear that I literally almost felt my heart stop completely when I heard that name. My palms began to sweat a bit and my stomach flipped _"T-That's Hotaru!? Oh...Jesus Christ and all that is holy...she...she sure changed didn't she? My God she's...she's...beautiful. She's so different from before it's like...it's like I'm looking at a whole different person...why do I feel so strange?"_

She just continued looking at me as if awaiting for me to say something.

I cautiously walked a little closer to her, to which she still didn't budge, nor did she ever take her eyes off of me. "L-Little...Hotie? Is it really you?"

Instantly, as soon as I said that name, her eyes opened wide and she dashed forward straight into my arms. "Oh my God! Hayden! It's really Hayden! You...you're Hayden! I knew it!"

I couldn't help but to feel warm and fuzzy inside. She was really giving me butterflies for some strange reason. "Y...you knew?"

"After my Dad had said I wouldn't believe who was here...before I even came out here, there was only one person that I could possibly think of. I was just...praying that it would be you Hayden...and as soon as I stepped out and took one look at you, I could just feel it. That same feeling that I haven't felt in almost twelve years. The feeling I had always gotten everytime I was around you. I haven't ever felt it at any other time." Her face was completely red.

"Wait...what feeling?" I was confused. What could she have been talking about? A feeling she only got around me? She meant like...friendship right?

Ageha shot a glare at Hotaru for some reason and just made another annoyed grunt. "Okay okay you two It's good you both got to catch up, but I wanted to come here to show Hayden to my Dad and everything and then go get some ice cream before I had to come back here and work! So bye Dad, Hotaru...love ya'll see you in a bit!" Ageha grabbed my hand once again and quickly drug me out.

"See ya Mr Himegi! We'll catch up Hotie!" I waved before turning back around to Ageha.

I didn't actually see it but Hotaru's face had showed serious disappointment when Ageha had grabbed my hand. "*Sigh*...I wonder if it's already too late..."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Catching up

"Jesus Ageha, you sure are in a rush!" She was damn near yanking my arm out of it's socket.

"Well I told you I wanted to get us some ice cream so we gotta hurry!" She continued rushing through the crowd.

"Aggie...you realize that the ice cream shop is on the bottom floor...at the other end of the mall...through that huge crowd of people..." I pointed ahead of us, stopping her shortly after. "There is literally no way in hell that we're gonna make it all the way over there, order our ice cream, eat it, then run all the way back up here before 4."

"I...we could maybe...I mean..." She let out an exasperated sigh.

I pulled my phone halfway out of my pocket, glancing at the time. "Uh...yeah no effing way dude. It's already 3:43."

"But...*Sigh*." She looked up to me, a little upset. "I really wanted to treat you to something nice though and catch up a little."

"Woah dude cool those jets down a sec...what about this place?" I pointed to the small cafe'.

"Oh nonono that's Cafe' Flags. I WISH..I could afford that place. I'd love for you to try the Mille-Feuille...but it's like 16-1700 yen a slice..." She sounded a little disappointed.

"Do they have Tiramisu?" I asked, excited.

"Huh? Um maybe...I think so, but it's even more expensive if it's the thing that I'm thinking about. I've never had it though." She shrugged.

"Oh fuck yeah, that's all you had to say. Let's go." Now it was I who was pulling her hand.

"But Hayden...I-I can't afford..."

"Who said anything about YOU paying? I'm sorry Ageha, but you're an idiot to think that I was gonna let you even pay for the ice cream, let alone this." I smirked.

She just folded her arms before smiling shorty after. "At least you still have that sweet side to you like when you were younger...promise me you'll never change Hayden...okay?" She looked up to me.

"I promise! Now come on, I'm dying for a big ass slice or two of Tiramisu." I walked into the cafe with her.

"T-Two? Like by yourself?" She cocked her head back to me.

I just turned to her slowly and deepened my voice before putting my face close to her ear. "One...does not simply eat only one slice of Tiramisu, Ageha."

I said it like that completely as a joke and only as that, but when I began talking like that into her ear she had made a weird noise and her whole body began to tremble...like a lot. It kinda weirded me out cause I didn't know what the hell was going on.

"What kind of noise was that? Are you okay?" I asked, a bit concerned.

"Mmh...n-nothing..." She seemed to be in another world before she snapped back into reality. "Uh...I'm gonna go get us a table!" She hurriedly ran off.

"Uh okay th- wait! You want the Mille-Feuille right?" I shouted.

"Yes please!" She quickly sat at a table and buried her face in the menu from extreme embarassment.

"Uh...that was weird. Heh...she's so weird sometimes." I shook my head before turning to the barista and ordering two slices of Tiramisu and two slices of Mille-Feuille. It only costed around 8k in yen. Not too bad.

I walked up to the table that she was sitting at, face still embedded into the menu as if she was hiding.

"Earth to Ageha?" I said, setting down the four small plates, finally getting her attention.

Her eyes grew ten times the size they were before. "Holy shit Hayden! How much was this?"

"Uh..the Tiramisu was 2,500 yen a peice. And uhh...the Mille-Feuille was like..what...I think like 1,600 a peice?" I said it non shalantly. I really didn't care about the prices.

"Oh my God Hayden! Why did you spend this much! I don't even know if I can eat two whole peices!" Even though she said that she was still quick to grab her fork and knife.

"That's why I'm here. Human garbage disposal at your service." I bowed my head and laughed.

"You...you can eat both of your peices plus one of mine?" She asked, completely dumbfounded.

"Uhh...I could eat all of it if I wanted to. Like...easy." I laughed, digging into my Tiramisu. "Mmmmm...good...God..."

"Is it really that good?" She said, taking a bite of her Mille-Feuille, smiling to herself when she chewed it.

I just snickered a bit. "I've never had whatever that stuff you got is, but I'd be willing to make you a bet that the Tiramisu is ten times better."

She just looked at me like I was stupid. "Hmmph. You wish."

I gestured my hands towards my espresso soaked cake, welcoming her to taste the cake of the Gods themselves. "Alright then miss confident. Go for it."

"Pff alright! But if I win, then you have to admit that I'm always right! Aaaaaaand...that I'll always be better than you at everything!" She grinned.

"Deal. And if I win, then you have to tell me why you're always blushing and acting weird around me now. PLUS...you have to tell me why you made that weird noise and got so embarassed when I got so close to your ear a little while ago." I was still really confused at that strange behavior.

Her face had looked like it had turned completely white. "Oh...uh...u-uhmm.."

"You're not...scared of losing...are you?" I raised my eyebrow and smirked.

"N-No! I know this stuff is the best!" She turned her head to the side to hide the embarassment. _"Oh God...please don't let me down Mille-Feuille."_

First, I had taken a bite out of her cake and chewed a bit. Savoring the delicious flavor and smiling to myself. "I'll admit, that stuff is pretty good." I then put a piece of the Tiramisu onto her plate. "But if you think that stuff is the best, then you're about to be in for a rude awakening.

"Hah...we'll see." She hesitantly picked her fork up, shooting me a few looks, to which I just smiled.

"You gonna eat it or not?" I aksed.

"Yes! Just...give me a second." She eyed the delectable piece of cake for a few seconds before finally putting it in her mouth and chewing slowly.

I watched for her reaction like a hawk.

The second she started chewing, her eyes had lit up like christmas. _"Oh my...it's...it's so damn good! But...gahh! I can't let Hayden win this! But...it's...it's really better then the Mille-Feuille..."_

"Well?" I asked, folding my arms.

She just tensed up a bit and stayed silent. _"I can't believe he won this...but...ugh I can't seriously tell him all that stuff! Jeez what am I gonna say? 'Well Hayden the reason that I've been acting weird is because I've had an insane crush on you since the day I met you'?"_

"Come on, just admit defeat." I already knew that I won.

 _"God there's definitely no way that I can tell him the...other thing. I can't just be like 'Oh and the reason for me making that noise was because I thought the way you spoke in that deep voice so close to me was extremely hot and it made me tremble from how horny it...made...' Oh my God...it actually...made me horny?"_ Ageha still looked like she was deciding on what to tell me.

"Tick tock...tick tock.." I laughed at how embarassed she was.

"It was really good...but I win this one, your Tiramisu wasn't ALL that you know." She turned to the side trying to hide her look of embarassment.

"Uhuh...yeah lying ain't gonna work on me. I saw the look you had on your face when you tried it. You looked like you were completely in heaven." I folded my arms and scoffed. "You can't seriously expect to pass a lie with me...I know you too well."

"Nuh uh! I...I mean it! The Tiramisu...it was okay but...it...uhh.."

I just shot her a look like "Really Bruh?"

"Ugh...fine okay. You win...it was fantastic okay? There I said it." She folded her arms in defeat.

"Well well well. You know what needs to be done now. Tell me why you've been acting this way and why you did what you did when I was messing around whispering that stuff to you." I was definitely smirking oh so very hard. I was a little too proud at the fact that I had won.

 _"God...I can't do this..."_

Suddenly an alarm went off on my phone. "Ahh shit...it's 3:58."

"Huh?" She looked confused.

"When I pulled my phone out earlier I had set an alarm two minutes before you had to go in so we wouldn't be late, since we were just eating right here next to the store. But you got like a minute soo...go ahead and tell me why-"

"Nope! I gotta go!" She quickly got up and hugged me quickly, rushing out of the cafe'.

 _"Hmm...she got lucky this time. Just what are you not telling me Aggie?"_ I dropped a nice tip for the waitress and followed close behind Ageha.

"What...what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm walking you back to the store, duh." I made a stupid face at her.

"Oh...you didn't have to you know, it's just right here." She smiled and pointed to the entrance.

"Doesn't matter. I wanted to make sure you got here safe. Even if it was close." I shrugged.

She just giggled a little and smiled up at me. "What a charmer."

"Pff...whatever you say hahah." I hugged her again and saw her off. Right as she had walked to the back room to help her Dad, I had turned around to leave...at least that was the plan.

"Wait!" A voice called from behind.

"Hotie?" I asked as I turned around.

"Wait Hayden! I wanna walk with you!" She begged.

I just swallowed hard. It still felt crazy being around her for some strange reason. "Uhh...okay that's fine but...I thought you were working?"

"I get off ten minutes before my sister starts...I sat here and waited for you since we didn't get much time earlier." She looked away as she said it, hiding the embarassment.

"Oh...um...okay. Well, where were you headed?" I asked.

"Oh...just home. I wanted to walk with you as long as I could until we had to go seperate ways at least..." She smiled lightly.

"You do know I drive right? I can totally just drop you off at your house. Hell, I would love to see your mom again! I miss her a lot dude..."

"You know, she would literally have a heart attack if she saw you. She still talks about you sometimes you know..." She put her hand on my shoulder for a second before removing it from embarassment.

I could feel my entire face getting hot. "*Gulp*...Uhh...that's...nice...uh you wanna go now?" I pointed over my shoulder.

"Y-yes." She still looked away from me.

The entire walk to my car consisted of nothing but awkward silence. Even when we had finally walked up to it, she hadn't even asked me a single question about it like everyone else I've shown it to. She didn't ask about how fast it was, didn't say it looked nice, no questions about how I got it...nothing. We just...walked up to it...unlocked it and both got in quickly, not saying a single word. I seriously couldn't figure out what it was...but every time that I was around Ageha, everything was fine and dandy. Easy. Peice of cake.

But...for whatever stupid reason, I literally could feel my heart ready to beat out of my chest, my palms growing sweatier, and my speech slurring everytime that I was near Hotaru. It was so much different from being around her sister and I have no idea why. It was really starting to bother me. Was something wrong with me?

Even half of the car ride so far was nothing but silence and maybe a few awkward smiles the few times that we had looked at each other in the car. Finally, we pulled up to a red light after a couple of minutes of driving when the silence had been broken.

 _"Heh...I still remember that..."_ She whispered as she looked out the window.

"Hmm? Remember what?" I asked.

I'm guessing that I wasn't supposed to hear her say it, considering she jumped a little when I had spoken. "O-Oh it's nothing..."

"No...tell me." My curiosity was definitely at it's peak.

She hesitated a bit and showed signs of dissappointment. "It's...I was just thinking about something that had happened back then."

"Do tell."

"*Sigh*..." For some reason, she was really hesitating to answer.

"Hotie?" I asked in the softest voice that I possibly could.

She just blushed and smiled. "Hehe...I always loved when you called me that." She said it like she was in a trance.

It just made my heart race even faster. "*Gulp*...Umm..."

"*Sigh*...I was just thinking about that one special day where it was just my mom and me in the park with you and your Dad when he brought you to come play. Ageha couldn't come because she was with Dad...heh...she was so mad at me because I...uhh...I mean...n-nevermind." She turned once again from embarassment.

"No no...cause what?" She had my full attention.

 _"This is so embarassing..."_ She turned to me suddenly and looked me dead in the face. "Because...I had you all to myself."

The way she said it made my heart feel like it had stopped completely. "All...t-to yourself? What do you mean? There were times when I played with just you and stuff at your house like when she was sleeping and junk...so why...why would she be upset about that?"

"Well...it was the very first time that you and I had been able to spend some quality time. Like...just the two of us, to where Ageha wasn't there at all. The times at the house, even though we may have played together without her...she was still there." She turned back towards the window.

"Ohh...alright I gotcha. But...then...why was that so special to you then?" I was pretty confused at all of this.

 _"I can't tell him...not just yet..."_

"Hotaru? You scare me when you don't answer me." I had a slightly more stern voice. It was only because I cared about her.

"Heh...I know I probably used to annoy you so much. Especially that day at the park. You...do you remember the thing I said to you on the swingset that day we were there?" She finally looked back at me.

What was she talking about? It's been so long, I find myself trapped in deep thought. All of a sudden, all of the memories slowly began to come back to me. "Oh jeez! Hahah...oh man I do remember actually."

She just smiled and laughed a bit. "Yeah...when I told you that-"

"You said...'Hayden...promise me that you'll marry me one day...you will won't you?" I laughed a little.

She isntantly grew quiet and turned away from me, though I didn't exactly notice.

"Haha yeah that was it. And then...then I said...'You really do wanna marry me huh Little Hotie?' And then you blushed super hard and nodded your head, and you said...'Right here on the swingset right now!' Then...I had told you that I swore on my warriors honor that it would happen heheh. Since we were playing that princess and knight game or whatever it was...right?" I looked over towards her...she just had her head down, frowning. It quickly started to bother me.

"Uh...something the matter?" I asked in a soft voice.

"Hayden...t-that's not..." She looked up to me like she was incredibly embarassed. I've never seen her so flustered. "I...I meant when I told you that if you pushed me any higher...that I might as well have been in space...I meant that time...when...when you were pushing me on the swing...uhm...mhmmm...uhh..."

"O...Oh...I'm...I'm sorry..." I looked back ahead to the road, unable to find any words. I felt like someone had just slapped me dead in the face with a brick full of fucking embarass. _"Oh my God...what the hell do I say now?"_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Another Familiar Face

The whole rest of the ride home, we had stayed dead silent. Like, literally not a single word was said except for when I had asked her where to turn once or twice. Even then she would just simply point or shake her head. We finally pulled up in front of her house after what seemed like the longest ride of my life.

Even when we pulled up, we had sat in the car...completely silent for what felt like half an hour before she finally had opened her door. I did the same right after she did and followed her to the front door of the house.

She began to fiddle with her keys a bit before eventually coming to the one she needed. It had taken her a minute or so to actually open the door and lead me inside.

[In Japanese] "Hotaru-Chan is that you?" A thin (slightly shorter than her daughters) and very pretty woman walked into the dining room, which was directly in front of the entrance.

[In Japanese] "I'm glad you're finally home, can you please help me finish din-" She instantly stopped when she had seen me standing near her daughter.

Honestly, I was just waiting for her to get pissy or something like their Dad did...or like, throw questions at me and ask me who I was, or what the hell her daughter was doing around another guy or blah blah, especially because it was Hotaru. They had always been super crazy protective over her since she was the youngest. Her mom literally despised when she'd talk to or even glance at a boy ever since she was younger...another reason why I had always felt so special.

After her staring dead at me for a few seconds, she literally did the complete opposite of everything that I was thinking. She simply walked up to me and took me into her arms, hugging me tightly.

I was in complete shock. The only thing that I could think to do at the moment was to just hug back and not say anything. Hotaru just looked at the two of us in complete disbelief.

"Y...you came back! I never thought I'd see you again!" She suddenly shouted.

Well I did not see this one coming in the least. "Miss Himegi...did you know?"

She just smiled and laughed. "Your eyes...never change. It only took one look, and I knew it was you."

"But...what? How the...that's the same exact thing that Ageha told me when I first saw her!" I shook my head before turning back towards Hotaru. "How the hell did you all know, yet Mr. Himegi didn't? Crap, he was ready to kill me when he first saw me!"

She just scoffed a little. "Yes he sure knows how to make himself look absurd. But enough about that...how have you been?! My you've certainly grown into quite the handsome young man haven't you?"

I began to blush a little. I've never really been praised like this before. "Uh...heh...t-thanks Ms. H."

"Would you like to stay over for dinner Hayden? I'd be honored if you did!" She smiled.

"Oh...I'm really sorry Ms. H, but I gotta get back home soon to Frank. He and I wanted to jam out a little tonight since we just unpacked all of our music stuff finally. But...definitely soon." I gave her a thumbs up.

"You guys play instruments?" Hotaru asked.

"Oh yeah. Frank plays drums and sings...like really good. And uh...I play the guitar and sing a little bit...screaming is more of my thing though." I shrugged.

Hotaru began to cover her mouth and snicker a bit. "Y-you...sing? But...you have a deep voice you can't possibly..."

I just shot her a slightly annoyed glare. "You think that's funny?"

She simply kept snickering to herself after nodding.

"S-screaming? Do you get mad when you play or something? You guys yell at each other?" Ms. Himegi looked really confused.

I turned back towards Ms. H, letting out a small chuckle. "Uh...no. Heh...it's not like that. I kinda had a feeling that you might not know what I'm talking about, I don't think that kind of music is really that well known over here."

"Oh I see...well...please, do reserve some time to have dinner with us one night...won't you?" She asked.

"Absolutely." I walked up to her and gave her another hug. "See you later Ms. H."

"Bring your friend one night if you'd like as well, I'd like to meet him!" She called out.

Hotaru and I had walked back outside to my car. I opened my door and stepped into it, starting it up and all before turning back towards her, who just stood right outside my door. She looked like something was troubling her.

"Hotie? You okay?" I raised my eyebrow.

She finally looked up at me after a bit and smiled. "Yeah...I'm okay...Um...Hayden?"

"Yeah?"

"Are...you and Ageha...you know..." She looked down, fiddling with her hands a little.

"Are we...what?" I shot her a confused look as I took a sip of my leftover soda that was in my car.

"You know...together?" She looked up at me.

I almost choked. "Ack...chhh..*cough*...tog *cough* together? No no! Definitely *cough*...*clears throat*...definitely just friends I assure you that! I don't see her like that!"

"Oh...I see...I'm sorry for asking." She turned away, smiling a little.

"Oh no...it's okay it's not a big deal, I understand. But...what made you want to ask me that?"

"I guess...I was just curious that's all." She shrugged.

"I see..." I looked towards her house once again. "Man...it's so crazy how this all turned out. I never thought I'd see this place or you guys ever again...and my luck turned out to be just the opposite. That...kinda makes me happy. It feels really good to know that you guys remembered me too!"

She turns to the side with a distraught look on her face, slightly giving me a bit of worry.

"Hotaru?" I had seriously contemplated stepping out from my car, though I ultimately decided not to.

"The day that you had come over to play with my sister and I...and you told us...that you had to leave with your Dad to go back home...after those two years of getting to know you, my sister and I had gotten so close to you...I was so upset." She looked up to me, almost looking like she was ready to tear up, though she held back.

"Oh...w-wow..." I found myself at a loss for a considerate reply.

 _"Man...she is gorgeous. I never thought I'd be looking at Hotaru that way but...I can't help it. Man...I need to stop thinking that way. What are you doing man? She's like your little sister remember?"_

I looked up towards her once more and caught her gaze directly, causing me to turn and blush instantly. _"Crap...it's hard for me to see her like that now. Hmm...probably best not to say anything though...I don't think she'd be very fond of that..."_

She took a deep breath before she spoke again. "We never stopped thinking about you. None of us did. We missed you every day and...everything was just so different without you around anymore. I didn't even have another friend until Aoi came along a few years later along with a few other people. I know it sounds crazy because it's been 12 years...but from that day, you never left our minds." She looked back up to me. "Especially...mine."

The way she said the last part completely made my heart melt; I couldn't help but to feel happy. "That...really makes me glad." I looked up to her and smiled.

She began to blush a bit once again.

"You know I love ya right Hotie?" I chuckled.

She just froze completely. _"He...he loves me?"_

"Your mom...your Dad...Ageha...you guys are like my second family, and I love you all to death, seriously."

 _"So...that's what he meant then...I guess I can live with that..."_ She smiled and reached through my window to give me another hug. "We love you too Hayden. We always will."

"Glad to hear it. Well...I had better get going, that's probably Frank right there actually, wondering where the hell I'm at." I chuckled as I picked up my vibrating phone.

"Alright...I'll...see you soon?" She asked.

"Of course. Come sit with us at lunch in school from now on when you can. Okay?"

"O-Oh...sure...that sounds nice." She smiled.

"Good, we'd love to have you sit with us...see ya Hotie." I kicked my car into reverse and quickly headed to my apartment to meet up with Frank.

 _"Wow...Hayden's really turned into quite the looker hasn't he. I just...I wish I could tell him..."_ She turned back towards her house. _"*Sigh*...there's just no way I can tell him."_

Over the next passing school week, everything continued to go well. Honestly maybe even turning out better than we would have ever expected before we moved here. We had already made fast new friends, and I, reuniting with old friends. Also, just as I had asked, Hotaru had begun joining us everyday at lunchtime in school; Frank and I had also joined into the music club on Wednesday. For some strange reason, Aoi and the others had seemed to show a bit of disappointment when we actually told them that we had joined, though they congratulated us anyway.

At first, every time that we would see Kanako in school, she would kind of just avoid us, though we knew it was due to her embarrassment around Frank. Though as the days passed, she seemed to become slightly more confident. Yesterday she had actually come to sit by us for lunch, but she did claim it was just to come and chat with Hotaru about something, even though she ended up sitting with us the entire lunch period; she stole quite a few glances at Frank too. Her and Hotaru actually seemed to be pretty good friends; they were also in the same class together.

Today was now Friday, the last day of the week, last period of the day.

"Weekend time tomorrow boiiiii!" Frank gave me a fistbump.

"You know it dude." I turned around towards Aoi and the girls. "What are you all doing this weekend?"

"Actually, this was our weekend off from working. So...probably just hanging out." Said Aoi.

"Oh you guys got jobs then?" I asked.

"Oh...uh...not like a job job...it's just like work that we do for fun...on this...uh...well nevermind." Ageha turned away from me mid sentence.

"Uhh...okay, that would be a hobby then ya dork. Anyways, you guys want to all hang out tomorrow? We could go do some shit at the park or something and then get some beer and stuff and play some drinking games at night or something." I shrugged.

"Do you guys drink anyway?" Frank asked.

"Meh. We have like once or twice." Aoi answered.

"I don't really drink much...I...I'm kind of a lightweight." Ageha laughed.

"Uh yes you are!" Kotori shouted.

"Oh so what! So are you!" Ageha pointed.

"Says the person who peed in the garden outside cause she thought it was the toilet." Kotori stifled a laugh.

"Oh...whatever." Ageha began to blush from embarassment.

"I...am not even gonna ask about that one." I shook my head and chuckled a bit.

"So it's settled then?" Frank asked.

"Yep, that sounds good to me. We could even do that tonight if you guys wanted to, and then still hang out tomorrow and stuff." Aoi shrugged.

"Yeah dude...we got nothing planned later. I'm totally down." Said Frank.

"Then I believe we have established a new plan." I nodded.

"Cool! I'm gonna text my sister and Kanako real quick to let them know to meet up with us in the hall after class." Ageha took her phone frrom her backpack.

"Sounds good." Frank nodded.

Just like we had established, as soon as class had ended, we gathered our things and headed out of the classroom, meeting up with the others as planned.

"Alright, we're all here. You guys ready to get going?" I asked.

"Yeah let's do it up." Frank began walking ahead.

As soon as we began following, Hotaru had come to walk right next to me, fairly close at that. After walking a short distance down the hall, we had ended up seeing one of Ageha and Aoi's friends. It was this guy named Masatsugu that they introduced us to a few days ago; they just all called him Ma-Bou for short though. He always gave me dirty looks from the get go for whatever reason.

"Oh. Hey Ma-Bou!" Ageha waved.

"Hey Ageha!" He then turned towards Aoi. "And you."

"Still mad about me leaving huh?" Aoi chuckled. "Jeez...when will you stop acting so annoyed about that?"

"I won't!" He then turned towards me after seeing Hotaru next to me, giving me a hard glare.

I just shot him a look and shook my head, ignoring him as we continued walking.

Right as I had passed him, he grabbed on to my shoulder forcing me to face towards him.

I look down at his hand and raise an eye. "Uhh..."

"What are you doing Ma-Bou?" Hotaru asked.

The others suddenly turned around at the slight commotion, wondering what was going on.

"You...don't dare ever try anything with Hotaru. Got it?" He said it seriously.

"Leave him alone Ma-Bou! Jeez, you sure know how to be pushy don't you?" Ageha shook her head.

"He's not trying anything!" Hotaru gave him a stern look.

"I've seen the way you look at her. I don't like it one bit, and I know you're up to no good! If I see you too close to her again, I'll beat you!" He looked dead into my eyes before letting me go and turning around.

I just continued shooting him a stupid look as he began to walk off, though I didn't let him get very far, considering how bad my blood was boiling. "You know what? I actually DON'T think that I 'got it'. So you wanna run it by me once more?"

The entire group of our friends let out a gasp.

Ma-Bou just turned around and scoffed. "Would you like me to show you instead then?" He began walking up to me.

"Come on cut it out dude. I'm just warning you for your own sake." Frank folded his arms and turned towards the others. "You guys need to tell your friend to back off while he has the chance to."

Ageha looked at him weird. "Wh-what do you mean? Hayden isn't really the type to-"

"I'm telling you, you need to tell him to back off and quit being stupid before he gets himself hurt." Frank's tone got a little more serious.

Ageha just looked at him with that same confused look before turning to Ma-Bou who was now dead in front of me. "Leave him alone Ma-Bou. Come on Hayden, please let's just go, this is stupid." She grabbed my hand.

"Yes it is." I shook my head at him before turning around and beginning to walk with Ageha.

"Jeez some friend you got there guys." Frank shook his head at the others.

"You're lucky she was there to stop me." He snickered.

"Yeah, whatever you say asshole." I called out, still walking off with Ageha.

He just made an annoyed sound before clenching his fist and running towards me, raising his hand in the air and striking down full force.

The others had caught notice of what was going on as soon as they heard him run towards me. They all let out a surprised gasp once again, except for Frank of course.

Frank shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. "...He should have just listened."

Before anyone could say anything about the matter, I quickly turned around, letting go of Ageha's hand and raising it to successfully block him from hitting me. I could tell that I really caught this guy off guard; his eyes were wide open in surprise. I quickly put his arm behind his back and twisted it, getting behind him, putting him in an arm lock and pushing him to the ground after.

"Ackh...what...ahh get off!" He pleaded.

"You ever pull some shit like that on me again, your hand here?" I held up his hand, which I still had hold of, in front of his face. "Next time I'll break it. Okay?"

"Ack...I said get of-"

"Do you understand me kid? I'm not playing around with you. I will break your god damn hand if I ever catch you do some...chicken shit like this again. You gonna fight somebody, then you fight them like a man. Face to face. Got it?"

"Yes yes okay okay! Just...get off!"

I finally let go of his arm and he just clicked his tongue at me be before he ran off, making me shake my head once again. "Sheesh...that guy is a douche. I don't see how you guys even hang out with him."

"Well...he's been our friend for like seven years now and...we kind of just ignore him when he gets like that, so I guess he's used to being able to talk to people like that without them actually doing anything..." Aoi still had a surprised look on his face.

"Hayden...how did you do that?" Ageha looked just as surprised as the others.

I made a gesture towards the school doors, letting them know that we should continue walking as we talked. "Frank and I took up martial arts for a little while about two years ago. Guess I still remember a few things."

"Oh...wow...that's...wow..." Ageha smiled, praising me a bit.

"Uhh...I guess? Though...I SERIOUSLY...hate fighting." I just chuckled a bit at how she was acting.

Hotaru had made an annoyed sound everytime her sister had gotten like that around me.

Frank and I both may have been incredibly humble people, but neither of us took any shit either. I can definitely understand why the others had gotten so surprised when I said what I did, I really never liked to be violent.

"If you guys want, me and Frank can take his car and go get all of the stuff while you guys go back to the dorm and cook and stuff. I know you still gotta get all of that done." I looked towards Aoi.

"Alright, we can do that then. You aren't both taking the cars?" He asked.

I just held up the keys in front of him and smirked. "Can't take my car when you got it."

"You...you're serious." He just looked at me stupid.

"Yeah man. You got your license the other day and I've been letting you drive it to practice damn near every night. You've been doing great dude, you'll be fine. Just take it easy since you have the girls with you." I smiled, handing him the keys.

"Woah dude...thanks! But...will they all fit?" He asked.

"You and Kotori sit in the front. Kanako, Hotaru and Ageha can all easily fit in the back seat. You'll be fine." I opened Frank's passenger door, getting into his car as he did the same, starting it up shortly after.

"Alright man...well...we'll see you in a bit then?" Aoi had just finished helping Kotori into my car.

"Yeah definitely. Shouldn't take us but half an hour. Anything specific we should get?" I asked.

"Melon sake!" Ageha shouted.

"Oh my...that's what you got drunk with last time!" Kotori scorned her playfully.

"I can't help it! It's soooooo good." She smiled.

"Yo...melon sake is the shit, I totally agree with her on that. We'll get a couple bottles." I said.

Ageha just blushed when I had agreed with her, causing Hotaru to get that same annoyed look yet again.

"You guys like any kinda beer or like...cider or somethin? Hard cider is pretty good in my opinion." Frank stated.

"Never had it actually." Aoi said as he got into my car, starting it up as well when everyone else had gotten in.

"Well we're gonna get some. That shit is good." I smiled.

"Works for me. Well, see you guys in a bit!" Aoi had then took off to head back to the manor.

"Alright dude, let's go." I looked over to Frank.

"Roger that broham." Frank had then took off as well, heading towards the local market.

 **Alright peeps...it's been quite a minute since I've written anything for my second story, and it's basically because I've been trying to focus on my main one every time that I actually get a chance to. Working twelve hours a day literally leaves me with almost no time to do much writing anymore, but I feel that I've given this one a bit of neglect for the past few months, so here we are! I have basically been binge writing the past three chapters every little chance that came to me, since as said, I've been a bit neglectful towards it recently, but I haven't forgotten!**

 **The next chapter should DEFINITELY not be this long of a wait again since my main story is coming to a bit of a close anyways, so please be patient, and I'll do my best :)**

 **Stay Awesome Guys!**

 **-H**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Game Night

A/N: [Dialogue in brackets like these will signify speech in japanese.]

"Yo dude, should we like...grab some steak and shit too? Aoi may cook really good...but he has yet to try our lemon pepper steak and shrooms." I held the two huge packs of steak in my hands, examining the price and freshness.

"Shit yeah dude. Toss em in." Frank gestured towards the basket.

We continued on to the alcohol section after grabbing a few steaks alongside some chips and dip. After about forty minutes of searching around there, we had picked out two cases of honey hard cider alongside one case of Michelob Ultra for Frank and I specifically, and two 750ml bottles of melon sake for the girls. We also had gotten one other thing as a bit of a surprise...a definite pick me up to throw in with our crazy night ahead of us.

"Hold up man...on second thought...I think we should go back and grab those bacon covered filet mignon. Like three or four packs to be honest. The extra ones'll be for the house though." Frank looked towards me awaiting approval.

I instantly nodded in agreement. "I like the way that you think."

We both walked back over towards the meat section, ready to grab the steaks and head out. Two girls had come into view of us when we turned the corner by the meat case.

["*Sigh*...just grab these sis, they'll do just fine."]

["No! The ones on the top are much fresher looking!"] The young girl tried her hardest to reach for the packs of meat, ultimately failing.

"Oh shit, it took me a second to realize that those two girls were twins dude. For a second when I first looked, I thought that chick like teleported or something!" I looked over to Frank, still laughing a bit at my own joke.

"Mmmm nope. I'm pretty sure there's literally two of them." He said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, guess I wasn't really thinking about the probablity of twins at the moment." I shrugged, pushing the basket closer up to the meat case.

"True." Frank nodded.

"I think she's trying to grab that one on top man. Heh...it's kinda funny cuz she's like five feet tall." I chuckled to myself.

Frank let out a little snort as well. "Heh...right."

"Scuse me. You need some help miss?" I asked.

"Hmm?" The girl who wasn't actually reaching for the meat had turned around.

"You need some help with that?" I asked yet again, pointing towards the top shelf.

She just kind of looked at me and cocked her eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, do you speak english? My Japanese isn't to the extreme heheh...was just trying to see if you needed a hand." I found myself getting a little nervous at the thought of looking like a total idiot.

She just shrugged her shoulders. "Sure...since my sister obviously isn't going to listen to me."

"Oh you do...cool." I walked over towards where the other girl was still trying to reach, easily grabbing the pack that she was going for, handing it to her right after.

"Here ya go." I smiled as I gave her the package.

"Oh...t-thank you." She shyly took it from me and smiled. ["See Yoru! Told you it was more fresh than this one!"] She compared the two packages to one another, before tossing the other back into the meat case and beginning to walk off.

The other girl just rolled her eyes and shook her head before following her sister.

"Pff... well alrighty then. Ah, here they are dude." I grabbed four packs of the bacon wrapped steaks.

"I am so ready to slam those down my face hole." Frank said, eyeing the steaks hard.

After the two of us got into line and paid for everything, we loaded up the car with groceries and headed back towards Flying Fish Manor. When we had arrived, we popped Frank's trunk open and grabbed all of the bags before knocking on the door.

Aoi opened it shortly after. "Oh hey guys. Here..let me take some of those."

I nod towards Aoi before handing him two of the bags. "Thanks dude. Shit was almost slipping out of my hands."

The three of us headed into the kitchen, setting the bags atop the counter next to all of the food that had just been finished, and pulling some of the contents out. Once we had gotten to the 'surprise', we had aquired a few weird looks.

"Uhh...what are those?" Yuka asked.

"Heh...chocolate bhut jolokia." I folded my arms and raised my eyebrow. "For the few tonight who are willing to partake in the challenge."

"Wait...are those peppers? I love peppers! Are they good?" Ageha asked.

"Uh...hell no they aren't gonna be good. They're gonna probably kill us." Frank chuckled.

"They're one of the hottest peppers in the world. When we saw them, we couldn't refuse the thought of getting them." I looked up to everyone, smirking. "We've come up with a little game."

"Do tell." Aoi seemed pretty intrigued.

"Hmph..." I began pulling the steaks out of the grocery bags a bit cockily.

"Ooh...those look soooo good..." Yuka said, almost drooling over the steaks.

"Heh...I bet." A smug little grin began to form across my face.

"Alright you're up to something. I can feel it." Aoi suggested.

"That I am sir. So here's how it's gonna go. You aren't the only one who knows how to cook Aoi. Frank and I make some seriously kick ass lemon pepper steak and mushrooms, if I do say so myself. So here's what I'm gonna do...Frank and I are gonna go ahead and cook the steaks all the same for simplicity. So...uh...is medium-well fine for all of you?" I asked.

Mostly everyone just nodded after looking to one another.

"Good cause that'll be easier on us; quicker too. But as I was saying, we'll go ahead and cook the steaks...and everyone will each get to take one bite of their steaks to see how good it is. Then...if you want the rest..."

"We have to eat the damn pepper don't we?" Aoi asked.

"Heh...you catch on quick my friend." I chuckled.

"Ah so that's what you wouldn't tell me on the ride back. Damn bro...that's savage, I love it. You know I'm already in...so who else is gonna do this?" Frank asked.

"Well, I don't actually eat steak...but I'll try the pepper!" Said Ryouko.

"Same here I'm in! I'm doing both though!" Yuka joined in.

"Sweet...so that's two others for now...who else is in?" I looked around once more.

Aoi just smirked a bit. "Hell...I'm in."

Ageha suddenly darted forward. "Oh no...I'm not being left out of this, I'm in too!"

"Awesome...Hotie? Kanako?" I looked towards the two of them.

Kanako just smiled and shook her head.

"I...guess I can try it...maybe?" Hotaru of course sounded pretty unsure about this, though I can't say that I blame her.

"Oh shit even Hotaru's gonna do it?" Ahega seemed surprised.

"I...guess I'll do the pepper if Hotaru does it..." Kotori said shyly.

"Haha...yes! Alright, we have our challengers...and we have the challenge. Frank?" I looked over towards him and smiled.

"Way ahead of you." He had already taken the steaks out and layed them across the tray neatly, seasoning them one by one until they were all perfectly prepped for the already preheated oven, thanks to Aoi. "Let's get cooking bro."

After popping the steaks into the oven, everybody had began to tear up the food that was already prepared for the main course. About 15 minutes after we had eaten and cleaned everything up, the oven timer made a 'ding', signaling the dawn of the steak and mushroom era.

"Oh...it's time." Frank stood up, running over to the oven and pulling out what looked to be the juciest, most perfect looking steaks possible for what skill level we had.

After setting everyone's steaks into their corresponding plates, we each took one fair sized pepper from the bag and set it next to our plate of food.

"Alright...everyone is going to pair up. The way this is going to go after everyone takes a bite of their steak, is basically like this..." Frank looked over towards me, giving me the spotlight.

"To your left, we have given each of you a glass of milk, as well as ourselves. Now...the key here is to put the entire pepper, stem excluded of course, into your mouth and chew for thirty seconds. And I mean CHEW it. Savor this thing like it's some of the best damn ice cream you've ever eaten in your life. After that, we spit it out into this bucket here, then...the hell begins. I'll begin the half minute timer on my phone as soon as we start chewing." I glanced back over to Frank, letting him finish the lecture.

"Here, I have my Iphone. I'm setting MY timer to five minutes, which I'll start the second we all spit the pepper out. You can NOT touch your milk or any drink for that matter within that time limit. Now, here's where the fun starts...if one of your team members fail, then they don't get to eat their steak...BUT!...you have the chance to save them! If you and only you finish your pepper right at the five minute mark but your buddy doesn't, then they don't get their steak...however...if you put yourself through an extra minute with no milk or drink...then their steak privelage comes back and you BOTH get your steaks."

"God this sounds like actual torture!" Yuka laughed.

I grab my pepper from the table, examining it thoroughly. "Oh...believe me, I'm not happy about this...and I'm the one who suggested it!"

"Hayden and I will be paired together. Then it will be...let's see...Yuka and Ryouko, on to...Kotori and Aoi. Last but not least, Hotaru and Ageha...everyone agree?" Frank looked to everyone for confirmation, to which we all nodded.

"Alright, let's do this. Peppers ready everyone!" I shouted, lifting my pepper into the air to which everyone followed. "Set?...Go!"

We all cautiously but quickly bit into the pepper, throwing the stem to the side before we all began chewing. Literally...and I mean LITERALLY the instant the pepper mixed into my saliva, I knew I had made a terrible choice.

"Oh my fuckin..." Frank's face too, had said it all. He couldn't even finish his sentence.

Aoi looked up to the both of us with a worried look on his face, though he seemed to be holding strong still.

Thirty seconds were up and we were all quickly spitting the worst descision ever into the bucket. Frank had started his timer instantly after.

Tears were already coming from my eyes as I tried my hardest to power through what literally felt like a demon bathing in my saliva. "It's...*hiccup*...gahh...It's so God damn *hiccup* hot."

"Holy...*hiccup*...man I can't...*hiccup*." Aoi shook his head, barely even able to get anything out louder than a light whisper.

Kotori was the first to opt out right at a minute in. "Oh my God it's hot...it's so hot! I can't!" She quickly picked her milk up and chugged it down, fanning the air around her mouth in an attempt to cool herself down.

Next came Yuka at a minute forty five...and then surprisingly Ageha shortly after at two minutes fifteen seconds.

"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod..." Yuka quickly grabbed her milk and basically almost dumped it onto her face.

"Hotaru...ssssss...I swear you better *hiccup* you better win this I want my *hiccup* steak!" Ageha playfully shouted.

I would have giggled, but Frank and I were both completely locked into concentration mode. We had our eyes closed, mouth shut and we stayed dead silent.

"Jeez...the focus on those two...*hiccup*. Agh...it hurts to *hiccup* ahhhh." Ageha quickly poured more milk into her mouth before even finishing her statement.

Frank and I both looked to each other and just shook our heads. It was at this moment we realized...we fucked up.

At about four minutes, Aoi had caved in. "Ack...*hiccup* damnit I can't!" He hit the table lightly with his fist and snatched up the glass of milk quickly. He was really determined for that steak it seemed.

Next, unfortunately, was Frank...right at four minutes eighteen seconds. "Mmh mmhn. Can't do it dude, not happening."

It was down to just me and to my complete surprise...Hotaru.

"Jeez...I can't believe your sister is taking this better than you did!" Kotori exclaimed.

"Yeah...I...I can't either." Ageha seemed equally as astounded.

Right at the six minute mark, it was finally over. Hotaru had quickly grabbed her milk just like the others did. "Mmmnnn oh my *cough*...ughh it's not really helping!"

Unfortunately for me, right as I had grabbed my milk...

"Hold up!" Frank had stopped me and smirked.

"What?" I just shot him an annoyed look; I was well ready for that damn milk.

"If you can eat one half of another pepper and chew for ONE more minute...you can totally make everyone's loss up." Frank grinned.

"Dude come on now..." Truth be told...it was actually kind of intriguing me to see if I could actually push myself to do it.

"No Frank it's fine...I'll just have to live without the...amazing...juicy looking...steak.." Aoi sounded a little disappointed in himself when he said it.

"Screw it...I got this." I put the milk down and quickly grabbed another, shoving the whole thing into my mouth. What can I say, my pride got the best of me.

"Holy shit dude I said half!" Frank's eyes grew wide.

I just chuckled a bit, before concentrating on my chewing.

"Heh...you're fuckin nuts man. I didn't even think you'd do it at all." Frank shook his head.

I just shrugged and continued my concentration.

Finally after what seemed like me asking Satan to put his ass directly to my mouth and fire out a years worth of chipotle for a whole minute, I spit the pepper out and rushed to the fridge to grab a gallon of milk.

Aoi began frantically throwing his arms around. "No no! Aw come on dude that's the last gallon of..."

"Sssss...ahhhhh...no it isn't we bought an extra one at the store for this...sssss...ahhh so damn hot..." I proceeded to begin chugging down the contents down to the halfway mark.

Aoi and Frank both looked to one another and laughed.

"This guy...he's crazy." Aoi chuckled.

Frank just shook his head. "You have no idea man. Heheh."

Ageha walked up to me and punched me in my shoulder.

"Ow! *hiccup* The hell was that for?"

"You idiot, why did you do that!" She laughed.

"I just wanted to see if I could! I don't like to back away from a challenge." I shrugged before downing some more of the milk. "Ahh...much better...well, not really. My mouth is still on fire."

"Heh...worst part is that I was totally gonna let you all eat the steaks anyway regardless. I just wanted you guys to have something to look forward to for the challenge. And truth be told I'm all around impressed. Good job guys!" Frank gave a thumbs up.

Kotori shoots Frank one hell of a glare, though she just as quickly shakes her head and giggles.

Everyone began digging into their steaks, and absolutely loving it; It made Frank and I feel pretty awesome whenever someone enjoyed our cooking.

"Spin the bottle time?" I asked, holding up a case of beer and one of the bottles of sake.

"I'm in for that." Frank nodded.

"This'll be your first time getting drunk won't it Hotaru?" Ageha teased.

"I don't drink, you know that. I'm only 17..." She blushed.

"Aw come on have a little fun!" Ageha lightly punched her sister in the shoulder. "You're gonna be 18 next month anyway."

"It'll be mine too!" Kanako raised her hand out of the blue.

"Same for me and Sanae!" Ryouko seemed proud of her virginity to alcohol.

"Jeez that's four people here who've never actually been drunk at all? Well there's nothing wrong with that. It's fun and all, just be responsible with it okay guys?" I said.

"Sheesh grandma, okay." Frank laughed.

They all just nodded and smiled.

We all walked into the main lobby, taking a seat in a big circle. The way we had decided to play was slightly different from a normal game; it was basically like this...whoever the tip of the bottle pointed to got to choose who he or she wanted to ask truth or dare to. Then the person who was asked would choose either 'truth' or 'dare'. Once one choice was made, the person who had asked the question would then choose a different person (or the same one if they wanted) to direct the truth or dare towards and tell them what to do.

If the person was told 'truth' and they refused to answer, or told 'dare' and refused to follow through with it...then they had to take a drink. If they did answer truthfully, or had performed the dare, then both the person who asked the question and the one who chose truth or dare both would have to drink instead of the person who performed it, unless the person asked is the same one who performs.

For the most part at first, everything was just easy shit. We'd ask simple truth questions or easy to perform dares that didn't even require any second thoughts. Stuff like 'Tell us your biggest fear.' or 'I dare you to act like a woodpecker attempting to peck steel instead of wood for thirty seconds.' Though after about an hour or two, once we had actually gotten a fair amount of drink into us...things began to get a little bit...different.

Frank and I were probably the least intoxicated out of everyone. Aoi was just a tad more than we were, though not by much. As for everybody else? Well...they were definitely having a good time. Even Hotaru had found it within herself to actually give drinking a try.

"Haha...my turn." I proudly gave the bottle a hard spin.

It stopped shortly after, pointing towards Aoi. "Me? Alright...uhh...Kanako! Truth or dare?"

"Hmm...dare." She smiled, slightly drunker than she was letting off.

"Alright...Frank!" Aoi pointed at him forcefully.

"Aw shit! Go ahead hit me with it." Frank prepped himself for what was to come the best that he could.

Aoi just had a cocky smirk on his face. "Hmph...I dare you to give Ryouko a back rub for thirty seconds."

Kanako instantly shot Aoi a glare, to which he just shrugged and mouthed 'what?' before smirking.

Frank just raised his eyebrow. "Pff...peice of-"

"With your mouth." He smiled extra hard when he finished the last part.

"...cake...seriously dude? Like how the fuck even..." Frank rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingertips and let out a little sigh.

Aoi just shrugged in a cocky way. "Hey, if you don't want to you can just drin-"

"Pff...I got this, be ready to drink smartass." Frank began to stand up and slowly walk over to Ryouko nervously.

Everyone started to giggle a bit at soon as he pressed his face to her back, including myself. He looked so dumb when he did it, and it was just hilarious honestly. Ryouko's face was redder than the color red itself. The worst thing is that the entirety of the time that Frank was rubbing his face over her back, she had been making some fairly weird faces, even biting her lip quite a few times, but somehow nobody else was taking note of it. Everyone was either too drunk or still a little too innocent minded to tell.

"Alright, thirty seconds is up. Crap...well, we gotta drink Ryouko." Aoi shrugged.

"Mhmm..." She was still blushing hard, even though Frank had already stopped and sat back down.

"Alright Aoi. Spin it up bro." I pointed to the bottle.

"Alright." He gave it a short spin; it had landed on Kotori.

"Ooh my turn! Uh...Ageha...Truth or dare?"

"Truth!" She folded her arms and smiled.

"Okay...Ageha, hmmmm...ooh! Do you have a crush on anyone?"

Her eyes had instantly shot open wide as she began fidgeting nervously. "Uhh...well...uhmm..."

"Uh oh...looks like Aggs is stalling a bit, she might have to drink!" I shouted.

She just glanced over at me, slowly coming to a smile, though I hadn't actually noticed it at the time. "Heh...yeah actually there is someone that I like."

"WHAT?! You do and I've never been told!?" Kotori blurted in surprise. "Who is it?"

"Nuh uh. The question was 'do you like somebody' to which I answered. So you have to drink Kotori." She had an evil grin on her face.

"Ugh...I hate you sometimes." She giggled a bit before taking her drink.

I couldn't help but to laugh a little at their tipsy behavior. They were both definitely more outspoken this way. "Alright Tori, your turn to spin."

"Huh...oh! Right! Here goes."

She gave the bottle what I'd like to say was the babiest spin I had ever seen, but a spin is a spin nonetheless I assume.

The bottle came to a halt quickly after being spun, landing on Hotaru.

"Heh...alright Hotaru, truth or dare?" Kotori's face came to resemble Ageha's previous little evil grin.

"Hehe...Dare!" She wasted no time in her answer, surprisingly. Most likely due to her...slight intoxication.

"Hmm, dare huh..." Kotori began to look around the room a bit until the very moment her eyes fell upon me. That previous grin had nothing on this one.

Can't say that I felt totally easy about this. Something was telling me that she was going to try and get me good for whatever reason.

"Uhh...I guess that means you're picking me then? Well go on, hit me with it."

"I want you to give Hotaru a smooch." Kotori folded her arms and giggled a bit.

"Pff, whatever. I kissed Hotaru on the cheek a bunch of times back when we were k..."

"Oh no no no...on the lips. I'm daring you to kiss Hotaru for real." Kotori quickly shattered my thoughts of this being easy.

Needless to say, nervous didn't even begin to explain what I was feeling. I mean, I might as well just take the damn drink now, because I know that I'm never gonna follow through with this one. As soon as Hotaru and I had locked eyes, my heart had completely felt like it had stopped. She was just so damn pretty now...what the hell is so much different from back then?

Hotaru began to blush just as hard as I'm pretty sure that I was, or maybe her cheeks were just a tad rosy from being drunk? It was really hard for me to tell. Before I could even say anything though, Ageha's cell phone had made a loud noise.

"Aw man...hold up guys, Mom's texting me." She lazily brought the phone closer to her face and squinted her eyes.

 _'Alright Ageha, I think it's time that you and your sister came home. It's getting late.'_

"Aw shit, mom's trying to make us go home." Ageha said with a small sigh at the end.

 _'Ohhh...come on we we're just starting to have fun Mom! :('_

'I'm not asking you Ageha-Chan, we are both very tired and it's late. Do you need your father to come and get you?'

"Ugh. Sorry guys, but my mom is unfortunately cutting Hotaru and I short on the fun time." Ageha shook her head a bit in disappointment.

Holy crap. Thank you Ms. H for completely saving the day.

"Aww...well at least this time you aren't as drunk as you were the first time!" Kotori giggled a bit.

Ageha just rolled her eyes at her. "Yeah, but the problem is that I told them that we were just hanging out. I didn't tell them that we were drinking. If he comes to get me right now, there's no hiding it from him. I know they aren't gonna care all that much about me, but if they know that I let Hotaru drink?...He. Will. Kill. Me."

"How about I bring you two home? Just tell them they can go ahead and go to bed and leave the ride home to me." I began to stand, trying quickly to avoid the dare that was still currently out on the table.

"Are you sure? I mean you were drinking and all." Kotori began scolding me a bit.

I just smiled proudly and put my hand up whilst shaking my head. "Dude, I've had six beers and one shot of sake over the course of two and a half, almost three hours now. I don't feel anything, honestly."

"You sure it's okay with you?" Hotaru let out a huge yawn, rubbing her eyes and stretching a bit. "I mean...you don't have to."

I quickly reassured her and ruffled my fingers through her hair. "Anything for you Hotaru."

She just looked down at the ground, probably out of embarassment or something. Her face began to turn beat red as always of late.

I just shake my head and chuckle to myself a bit. She sure knew how to unintentionally be cute as hell.

Ageha just shot us one of her annoyed glares before looking back down at her phone. "Alright you two let's go."

 _'No, it's fine mom. Hayden's gonna bring us home now. Be there shortly!'_

"Well, I guess It's a good time to call it quits anyway, I'm getting hella tired." Frank let out a loud yawn, turning his head to the side to crack his neck. "Whoo, needed that."

"Alright guys that's cool. We still going to go to the park tomorrow right?" Aoi asked.

"Sure dude. Sounds like a plan. You guys can come too if you want to." I briefly gave my attention to the other girls in the room who had yet to have us invite them.

"Well we would, but us three are going shopping tomorrow!" Sanae smiled, pointing towards Ryouko and Yuka.

"No problem that's cool. Next time then." I smiled.

"Alright dude, I'll see you at home in a bit. I'm probably gonna be knocked the hell out anyway though." Frank shrugged after grabbing his keys and wallet.

"No problem dude, just don't forget to lock the friggin door like you always do."

Frank really did always forget the most important shit. I couldn't help but heave a heavy sigh and chuckle at him. He was my best friend for a reason I guess.

"Roger, will do captain." Frank stands up and gives me his best salute.

I simply shake my head and walk over to the girls.

"You two ready to go?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure!" Ageha took my arm into hers playfully and began walking towards the front door with me.

As soon as my feet had begun to move, I had noticed that we were short one Himegi, until I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind. I turn around to find a fairly inebrieated Hotaru standing behind me, latching on to my back. My face began to get hotter and hotter.

"Uhhh, you okay Hotie?"

"Yeah...I'm okay! I...think. My head feels funny. Am I gonna die?" She quickly released her hands from my back and made somewhat of a distraught face.

I couldn't help but to close my eyes and giggle to myself. She really was extremely cute.

"No, I'm pretty sure you'll need much more to drink than just what you've had for that to be the case." I ruffle my fingers through her hair a bit, gaining a few weird noises from her.

Ageha let's out a few annoyed grunts before tightning her grip on my arm.

"Ow jeez okay okay we can go. Sheesh!"

The entire car ride to the Himegi household mainly consisted of just me and Ageha talking our asses off whilst Hotaru slept a little of the drunkness off the best she could. After arriving and having her hug me for what seemed like a few whole minutes, Ageha rushed to her front door, finally opening it after a few failed attempts.

I stood next to my car door, ready to wake Hotaru up like her sister asked me to do for her since she was ready to go inside and pass out.

"I know I need to get her up...but she looks so peaceful though."

Hotaru continued drawing small breaths in and out as she lay down in my back seat. She was sleeping so comfortably that she almost looked like she was in some sort of coma.

"Heh...she's pretty adorable when she sleeps. Hmm...I guess I could just try to cradle her in my arms maybe? I think that'd probably be the easiest way. Yeah...let's do that then."

I find myself speaking to nobody in particular. Of course since she's sleeping it wouldn't matter anyway.

"I don't mind being carried to my front door if you're offering, heheh." Hotaru suddenly sits up as soon as I had turned my attention from her.

"Woah what the...wait you weren't sleeping?"

She just smiles and shakes her head. "I was kind of hoping that you'd carry me actually."

"You cheeky little bastard." I chuckle to myself and begin moving closer towards her.

Way to be even freakin cuter Hotaru.

She lifts her arms up towards me, looking directly at me with her big brown eyes.

I can start to feel that weird feeling inside me again. My chest feels contracted and my heart feels like it's beating a mile a minute...I wish I knew what the hell's gotten into me.

"Hayden?" She puts her hand on my shoulder, reluctantly snapping me out of my trance.

"Oh, shit I'm sorry Hotie. Come on, I'll carry you." I lift her from out of my car and into my arms bridal style, causing her to giggle quietly against my chest. I could feel the warmth from her breath gently touch against my skin. I really have no idea how I'm still alive with my heart beating this fast.

"Why'd you laugh?" I asked.

"Oh...it...it's nothing." She just continued to hide her face into my chest.

I just decided to let the matter pass and walk her to her door, setting her down onto her feet gently as soon as we arrived.

And then it came. The complete wave of silence. We literally stood by her door for about two minutes just glancing at each other every so often without uttering a single word.

"Soo...I had a lot of fun with all of you guys tonight." She finally had broken the silence. Thank God because I sure as hell couldn't pull it off.

"Oh...that's good. I'm glad you had fun your first time drinking, just always promise to be careful whenever you do okay? Don't ever go too far with it, especially if I'm not around to watch over you."

"I know silly, I won't." She nodded.

"Promise me?" I put my hand on her shoulder, causing her to blush even more.

"I...I promise." She let's out a heavy sigh and smiles at me once again...before leaning her head against my hand on her shoulder.

I swallowed hard. What do I do now? I can't just be like 'hey give me my hand back'...could I? Maybe if I just be playful about it? Yeah that could work.

"Hey now, give me my hand back ya goofball." I slowly pulled my hand away from her and back to my side, earning a bit of a disappointed sigh from her before she began to pout a bit.

"Aww...you could've waited a lil longer..." She playfully frowned at me, making me shake my head a bit.

"Well, I'm sorry. But it is getting a little late and you need some rest, cause you're gonna be feeling it in the morning." I chuckled a bit at the thought of her having a little hangover.

"But...I don't want you to go Hayden...I...don't ever want you to go again..."

There's a slight hint of hurt in her voice, and honestly it bothered me a lot. I didn't like seeing her in pain in any way, shape or form. If there was anything that I could do to help her in any way, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

"It's just until tomorrow silly, you're coming to the park with us remember? You'll see me again tomorrow ya know." I give her the best reassuring smile that I could muster up.

"...You promise?" She put her hands together, almost sounding as if she couldn't even believe that something that simple could be true.

"One hundred percent." I nodded, hugging her shortly after. It had taken her a bit to actually let me go, though I didn't mind. The feeling of her that close to me was oddly satisfying.

"Well, I guess it's about time that I head home. Frank's probably wondering what the hell I'm doing anyway...heheh. Well...goodnight Hotie, see you tomorrow, okay?" Right as I give a slight wave to her and begin walking towards my car, I hear a set of footsteps following behind me, followed by a small hand resting upon my shoulder.

I quickly turn around to find none other than Hotaru with her head down, looking straight at the ground. "Uhhh...Hotaru? You alr-"

"Can you...close your eyes for a second?"

"Close my eyes? F-For what?"

"Please, Hayden. Just for a second."

It almost sounded like she was pleading for me to do so. "Uhhh...alright then?"

Slowly I began to close my eyes, although a bit hesitant at first. I felt like I waited for a lot longer than I really did. The suspense was truly killing me and I hated having things kept from me, though right as I was about to open my eyes, I suddenly felt something incredibly soft touch my lips.

Needless to say, I was pretty sure that I knew exactly what was happening right now, though at the thought of something that crazy actually happening, I couldn't help but to open my eyes.

And there it was. The confirmation that I needed. Hotaru...she was kissing me. This was really happening right now, and I still couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. It truly felt as if time itself had completely stood still. Like there was nobody else in the world except for her and I, in this moment, right now.

Even though I may be getting a little ahead of myself to think anything good about this considering that she probably only did this due to her being intoxicated, it's easy to say that she probably doesn't even realize that she's doing this right now...she probably won't even remember it by tomorrow.

After just a short few seconds, I finally pulled away from her, causing her to let out a bit of an annoyed grunt.

I myself, was at a complete loss of words. I literally have no idea how to go about this.

"W-why...did you do that?" I asked.

She just giggled a bit and covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to stifle a laugh. "Because, you didn't finish the dare."

"Ah. Right." I shook my head, albeit a tad dissappointed with the response to my own surprise.

So that was it then, it was just for the dare. Right, of course it was. I mean what else would she have done that for? Just the dare, just friends...right. Right. Of course.

"Heheh...goodnight Hayden. Please drive safe, okay?" She hugged me once more before walking into her house and shutting the door.

"Y-yeah..." Dazed, I begun to slowly walk back to my car, still trying to peice together the events that just ocurred.

I quickly started up my car and began to head back to the hotel. "Man...this gonna be a loooooong ride home..."

Hotaru had been secretly looking out of her window the entire time as I drove off. She lets out a little sigh as she closes the curtains, leaning her back against the wall as she rubs her fingers through her hair briefly "...Oh Hayden...what am I gonna do about you..."

 **Aaaaaaaaaaaand I'm finally back! I know that in my last chapter, I had clearly stated that it wouldn't be very long before the next chapter would get posted...and next thing you know, a year later it's here...we can blame that on me taking longer than expected to finish up on my other story as I said I would be doing, but I'm finished with that one now!**

 **So now, since I can focus on this one as my main story, I'll be writing a hell of a lot more often than before (when I'm not working and everything of course) so there won't be any ridiculous waits for the next chapters to come. Just bear with me, I'm trying lol.**

 **But enough of that jazz, hope you guys continue to read along the way, I'll be here.**

 **R &R it up my guys! Feedback is always appreciated.**

 **Stay Awesome Guys.**

 **-H**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: A Day At The Park

"Probably gonna have to be quiet when I walk in." I mutter to myself as I pull up to the front of our apartment to park my car and lock it.

I walk up the stairs and open the door...only to find a very much awake Frank sitting on the barstool with an attempt at an annoyed tone of voice.

"Took your ass long enough to get here." Frank spins around on the barstool to face me, but fails miserably and overshoots the spin causing him to face the same direction that he started.

I try my absolute hardest not to laugh, which was probably the biggest challenge in my life right now, save for the other things that happened tonight. "Pff...nice job you jackass."

"Heh...whatever dick. But hey...seriously, what took you dude? You left the manor over an hour ago bro." Frank folded his arms and stood up, awaiting on some sort of clarification.

 _"Wait...an hour? Have I really been gone that long? There's no way that I was talking to Hotie that long."_

"Earth to douchebag?" Frank begun waving his hand in front of my face.

"Oh shit dude, I'm sorry. Did...did you say an hour? I was gone for literally an hour?"

"Yes, literally an hour, if not more. I passed the hell out not long after I got home at ten. Next thing you know, I wake up at like 11 cause I had to piss and get something to drink...and you still weren't home man. I mean you're grown and shit...duh, but you're still my best friend dude. So when I called you seven times and you didn't answer...yeah, not gonna lie, I got a little worried."

"Dang...who knew you actually cared about me huh?" I chuckled a bit, giving him a little slap to the back to reassure him a bit.

"Yeah yeah, whatever you say. But hey seriously...what happened? Don't tell me 'nothing' either, cause I'm not stupid." Frank lets out a cocky chuckle. "Something happened with Hotaru eh?"

My face began getting very hot. He may be my best friend, but could I seriously just up and tell him? I mean...he kinda already knows that SOMETHING definitely happened...but he doesn't know what. But...I can't really lie to my best friend...guess there's only one way out of this.

TRUTH.

"Uh...yeah dude. Actually, she uh...she kissed me man...like...on the lips and everything." I can feel myself beginning to get all weird once more when I recall the feeling of Hotaru's lips pressing against mine. I begun mentally noting every feeling that I had felt earlier.

Face hot...check. Palms sweaty...check. Butterflies...check. Flustered...absolutely. Nervous as shit...Jesus Christ yes, check.

Frank...oh God Frank. He was absolutely dumbfounded. I've never seen his jaw drop so low. "Uh...you wanna run that by me one more time?"

"Yeah man. She told me to close my eyes and then...well...like I said, she kissed me." I shrugged my shoulders, trying my hardest to play off the way I was feeling.

"You...holy shit...you're actually serious aren't you?"

I nod and sigh.

"What...dude...I'll be honest, this was all an act. I was never really annoyed at you, I was just totally joking when I said that something happened man...but...she seriously kissed you? Like on the entire mouth of your actual face?!"

I can't help but to laugh at his remark. "Heh...yeah man. She really did."

"...Hell yeah bro! Sweet, so you two are totally going out now right?"

Well, that wasn't what I had expected. Can't say that I was prepared for a talk like this.

"Uh...n-no, actually we aren't. She said that she did it because I didn't finish the dare, so she wasn't letting me walk away without finishing it I guess. That's what she told me after she kissed me." Yet again I just shrug the thought off.

"Oh shit dude...that...kinda sucks." Frank puts his hand on my shoulder.

"Pff. Naw man, why would that suck?"

"Oh don't even dude. Not with me." Frank smirks.

"Don't...what?" I ask.

"Don't lie to me. I'm your best friend, you think that I can't tell when you like someone? I know how you really feel about her dude."

Usuallly, this would be the part where I'd just play the whole ordeal off, but in this case, he was totally right. Like, nailed it dead on the mark.

"Well, shit...that obvious huh?"

"Yep, that obvious...well to me at least. I was actually having a little convo with Aoi as I was leaving earlier about you and her. He sees it too in the way that you act around her." Frank walks into the kitchen, opening the fridge for a drink. "Sprite?"

"Yeah, toss me one." I catch the can of soda swiftly, popping it open and chugging down half of the contents within a few seconds. I let out an 'Ahhhh' when I had finally stopped drinking.

"You know...the shitty part, is that I can't say that her feelings are returned. I'm pretty sure that she still just sees me as like...that older brother figure just like back when we were kids."

"I dunno man, it's hard to tell to be honest. I mean, yes she did kiss you but...I dunno. Heh...women." Frank shakes his head, taking a sip of his soda shortly after.

"Yeah man, women...jeez." I chug the rest of my soda down, toss it into the trash and stand up, stretching a bit and letting out a little yawn. "Ohhh...man...see my biggest thing now is like...how the hell am I going to face her tomorrow when I see her? Or like...will she even remember it at all? She WAS pretty hammered."

"Meh...I dunno. Only one way to find out. Guess we'll just have to see what happens tomorrow. C'mon let's hit the sheets, I'm tired as hell."

I nod furiously, opening my eyes wide. "Absolutely, I'm surprised I'm still standing up honestly."

Frank and I head upstairs to our room to get what remaining sleep that we can before we have to get up in the morning. Who knows, maybe I'm just overthinking tomorrow's situation.

At least, that's what I was hoping for.

[The Next Day]

We've been here over two hours now and I've said...what...maybe two sentences to Hotaru? I believe those would be 'Hey girl, sleep well?' when I first saw her, and 'Want a soda?' when we passed by the vending machines; both times she just either nodded or shook her head and smiled. It isn't her fault though, she's been pretty talkative the entire time honestly, especially with Kanako. Those two seem to be getting along better and better lately.

Me on the other hand, I can barely even come to look at her; she just blushes and turns away every time that I do. I swear I don't understand her sometimes.

Does she even remember last night? I feel like she just always blushes because I like...embarrass her since she looks up to me cause I'm older? I guess? Jesus, I wish I could just figure this girl out.

"Yo Hayden, you know those guys or something?" Aoi points over across to the other side of the walking trail.

There were two guys standing under the shade of one of the trees; sure enough they were both looking this way and waving.

I put my hand over my eyes to shade them from the beating rays of the sun. "Uhh...shit. I can't really tell from here who that is. Uhhhhhhh..."

"Hey, that's Motou and Hamada!" Ageha shouts, after squinting her eyes frantically.

"Oh yeah, sure enough that is...wait, how do you know them?" I asked.

"I've talked to them a few times when they both first started here, plus they know my Dad a little. Wait...how do YOU know them?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Uh, they're in the music club with us? Duh. Thought you told me that you're always talking to people there?" I roll my eyes playfully, causing Ageha to click her tongue at me.

"Oh whatever, I forgot okay! Brain fart, that's all!"

"More like brain dead." I try my hardest to stifle a laugh, which proves to be a little hard once Aoi, Kotori and Frank all start busting out laughing.

I only get to laugh for a split second though, since she decides to force her elbow directly towards my genitals. I quickly spring into action, grab her elbow, lift it upwards and get behind her. Both of her arms are locked into my hands now, preventing her from any escape.

"Ah ah ah..." Once again, just like I had done at the mall a while back, I bring my face close to her ear. "Let's play nice now, right Ageha?"

"Mmnh..."

And once again, that wierd ass noise, just like last time.

"Why do you always do that?" I shake my head and laugh. She was so wierd sometimes.

Hotaru makes a pretty annoyed face at me for whatever reason. I can feel this sort of tension build up between us all of a sudden.

"The hell, you cold or something Ageha?" Aoi asked.

"Wait...huh..oh." She had finally caught attention to where Aoi was focusing on.

Her arms were full of goosebumps.

Apparently that was all it took to snap her out of her wierdness. She quickly regains her composure and clears her throat.

"...No-I mean yes! Uh, I guess it is a little chilly...I guess?"

"You guess? Dude, it's 67 degrees outside with like no wind whatsoever. It feels perfect. You on crack?" Frank folds his arms playfully.

Kanako giggles a little louder than I would have expected, causing Frank to turn around at the sound. She instantly stops and turns away.

We ended up walking over to Motou and Hamada finally after our few little brief moments of idiocy.

Frank and I both walk up to the two of them and shake their hands.

"What up guys? What're y'all doing here?" I ask.

"Nothing really, we were catching up on a bit of schoolwork at first...but then we uh, kinda bailed on that heh.." Motou nervously rubbed the back of his head.

"Hah...why am I not surprised." I shake my head a bit and chuckle.

"Oh hey, you never got to see my new guitar yet huh? I tried to show you Friday before school let out but I kinda got caught up." Hamada begins to pull out his cell phone as soon as he started to tell me.

"Nope I haven't, let me peep it." He places the phone in my hands, and my eyes grow wide as ever. "Dude...you got an ESP? Bro...what kind of music do you guys actually play?"

Motou begins counting upon his fingers as he names off the list. "Well, we litsen to all kinds of varieties. Old school rock, Hard rock, some post-hardcore, and-"

"Wait, post-hardcore? You...guys actually know what like...screamo and stuff is?" I was pretty much completely dumbfounded now.

"Uh...there is Japanese metal and post-hardcore bands you know..." Hamada raises his eyebrow like he's shocked that I hadn't known.

"Uh...n-no I didn't actually. Uhh...whoops?" I shrug my shoulders with a cheeky smile.

"Pff. Idiot." Motou shakes his head and laughs.

"Wait wait...that stuff that you guys play...that's what screamo is?" Ageha turned towards the guys.

Motou thinks for only a second, then nods. "Uhh yeah. That's what we were playing that one time that you and your sister came and watched us a while back."

Ageha turns her attention back towards me. "THAT...is the stuff you guys play that you told my sister and I about?"

"Yes? Is that so hard to believe?" I tried my best to look a little serious.

She shakes her head, frantically waving her arms. "It's not that, it's just that...well...Motou and Hamada both took singing lessons for like two or three years. They've always sung pretty good and they kind of have the voice for it but-"

"You're totally about to say that you don't think that Frank and I can sing well huh? Or at all? Weren't you?" I fold my arms and give her a bit of a scornful look.

She jumps back a bit at my sudden change of tone. "No not that! It's just well...uh...you guys both kinda have a deep voice and..."

"And? That means we can't sing?" Even though I'm not actually being serious with her, I can't help but to drag the tough guy act out a little longer.

"No! I mean...I-I dunno..."

"Dude, I'm just messing around. Heh...we can't sing all that great, but we sing and scream nonetheless. It's fun." I shrug my shoulders once again.

"You guys up for a little 'fun' competition then?" Hamada looks at Frank and I with a smirk.

I look over to Frank who just shrugs and nods. "And what do I partake that may be, good sir?"

"How about we have a little jam-out battle? We each play a song and have someone else judge on it. Whaddaya say guys?" Hamada holds his fist out, overlooking Frank and I.

I glance at Frank once more from the corner of my eye and nod, before the both of us fist bump him. "Safe to say that we're in I believe."

"Wanna just do it at our apartment? Our garage is pretty friggin huge." Frank suggested.

Surprisingly Kanako was the next one to say something a bit out of the blue. "Wait, I thought you guys lived in a hotel?"

"Oh..Well, it's more like a condo actually. It's pretty nice!" Said Frank.

"Oh...o-okay." And just like that. Back to square one with her being shy and all.

"Uhh...Yyyyyeaaahhh..." Frank just slowly turns away and back to the guys. "So, do you guys drive?"

"Yeah we do." Motou nods.

I give the both of them a thumbs up. "Awesome. You guys can go grab all of your stuff now if you want, we're gonna go ahead and head out as well and you can meet us there after. I'll text you the address."

They both nod and walk away after shaking all of our hands and whatnot, saying their brief goodbyes.

"Well, I guess that's settled then. You guys coming along too right?" I scan everyones faces and await my answer.

"Psh, duh. Who else is gonna judge? Plus, I really wanna see you guys sing!" Ageha turns her attention towards me suddenly. "Especially you. I've known you too long not to see something like this..."

I just shrug my shoulders and stretch a bit. Those few laps that Frank and I had jogged around the track had left my muscles a little sore surprisingly. "Well, I mean I do sing, but I mostly just handle the screaming. Just like Frank screams too, but mostly handles the singing."

"So...Frank can do both too?" Kanako asks shyly.

"Yeah, I can." He turns his attention to me and smiles. "How about we just do a little of both in whatever song we pick man?"

"Meh...I dunno, you know how I am about singing."

"Oh come on don't be a baby. Please?" Ahega puts her hands together and begs, and I know she's only doing it to try and be cute.

Aaaaaaannnnd unfortunately it worked. "Alright alright. Anything for you Aggie." I rub my fingers through her hair playfully and smile.

"Mmn..." Yet again she just makes one of her...wierd noises.

And yet again, Hotaru looks like she's getting pretty annoyed for whatever the reason, though she still hasn't said a single word to me.

 _"Man I need to stop doing that. That's starting to get kinda wierd."_

We all end up walking the track one more time just for the hell of it, before hopping into the cars and heading back to the apartment to wait for the others.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: A Friendly Competition

After Motou and Hamada had gotten here with their friend (who was their drummer apparently), they had set up their stuff alongside ours; the three of them had gone first due to them winning the coin flip.

They had chosen this song called 'Final Attack' by some Japanese band I've never heard of, called Dazzle Vision. To my surprise...it was actually pretty damn good.

Now, it was our turn.

"Well. I'll be damned. That was impressive as hell, if I do say so myself." Frank high fives the three of them. "Good job guys, seriously."

"And you guys said that that band's lead singer is actually a girl?" I asked.

The three of them all had nodded.

"The lead guitarist is too." Motou added.

"I'm definitely going to have to check them out sometime dude. Japanese post-harcore with a girl lead screamer/singer...I would have never expected that one." I shrug to myself before picking up my guitar, turning it on and tuning it a bit before turning to the others. "So like...are you guys gonna just wait until we're done and just tell us who won by votes or something? Or you wanna do like...scoring or whatever?"

"We'll just let everyone finish and then we'll just come to an agreement for who was better, that should be a little easier." Ageha folded her arms and smirked. "You guys are totally gonna lose anyway."

"Pff...probably so." I let out a small sigh and adjust my guitar strap. "...You ready man?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Frank walks over to his drums, grabbing a pair of the drumsticks and hitting the snare and bass drum a few times for no reason whatsoever. "What should we play man? Should we go just a little heavy like they did to keep it within the same category? Orrrrrrr...should we dare to go a tad heavier?"

"Yup, that's what I was thinking. You up for a little Exotype?" I look towards him and smirk.

"Oh God yes. We're totally playing 'Stand Up'."

"Hmm...yeah, good choice. Wellp, let's do it up then I guess." I tighten my guitar strap a little more, grab one of my heavy gauge picks and take stance. "On your count man, I'm ready."

Frank nods before hitting his drumsticks together to count in the intro.

[As said, this song is called 'Stand Up' and it's by none other than Exotype. They are really freaking good by the way, go listen to it :D]

 _[Intro]_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Stand up stand up, it's what you waited fooooor!_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is everything you wanteeeeed!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to say..._

 _You said you'd make it anyway!_

 _Stand up stand up, it's what you waited fooooor!_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is everything you wanteeeeed!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to say..._

 _You said you'd make it anyway!_

 _[Chorus]_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is what...you've been waitiiiiing foooooooor.._

 _[Hayden]_

 _Here's your chance to form your legacy!_

 _[Frank]_

 _Here's your chance to engrave your memoryyyy.._

 _This is what...you've been dreaming oooooof!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiiin!_

 _[Frank]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiiiiiiiiiiin._

 _[1st Verse]_

 _[Hayden]_

 _From the beginning we are destined for a higher cause,_

 _Our minds expanded how we planned it when we wrote the laws._

 _Now it's come to a decision and we're drawing straws,_

 _We make our own conditions,_

 _[Frank]_

 _We're technicians though we're flaaawed!_

 _Stand up stand up, what you waiting for!?_

 _This is everything you wanted, there is nothing moooore!_

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to saaaay!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _You said you'd make it any...waaaaaay!_

 _Raghh...rrrraaaaaggghhh!_

 _I decide the fate of milliooooons!_

 _[Chorus]_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is what...you've been waitiiiiing foooooooor.._

 _[Hayden]_

 _Here's your chance to form your legacy!_

 _[Frank]_

 _Here's your chance to engrave your memoraaay..._

 _This is what...you've been dreaming ooooooooof!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiin!_

 _[Frank]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiiiiiiiiiiin._

 _[2nd Intro]_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Stand up stand up, it's what you waited fooooor!_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is everything you wanteeeeed!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to say..._

 _You said you'd make it anyway!_

 _Stand up stand up, it's what you waited fooooor!_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is everything you wanteeeeed!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to say..._

 _You said you'd make it anyway!_

 _[Break]_

 _[Frank]_

 _From the place you least expeeeect!_

 _I decide the fate of milliiiiiooons!_

 _[Hayden]_

 _I am the ano...ma...lyyyyyyyyyy!_

 _Bowwww!_

 _[Breakdown]_

 _[Hayden]_

 _From the beginning we were destined for a higher cause,_

 _Our minds expanded how we planned it when we wrote the laws._

 _[Frank,Hayden]_

 _Now it's come to a decision and we're drawing straws._

 _[Hayden]_

 _We make our own conditions, we're technicians though we're flaaaaawed._

 _[Hayden]_

 _Stand up stand up, it's what you're waiting for._

 _This is everything you wanted..._

 _Get up listen up, I've got something to say..._

 _[Frank]_

 _You said you'd make it anywaaaay!_

 _[End Verse]_

 _[Frank]_

 _This is what you've been waiting fooooor._

 _[Hayden]_

 _Here's your chance to form your legacyyyyyy!_

 _[Frank]_

 _Here's your chance to engrave your memoraaay._

 _This is what you've been dreaming oooooof._

 _[Hayden]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiiiin!_

 _[Hayden,Frank]_

 _Take a breath, close your eyes and dive iiiiiiiiiiiin._

 _And dive iiiiiiiiin._

 _[End]_

Frank and I were left panting a bit, catching our breath and whatnot after we had finished. Screaming that much tends to take a little more out of you than one would think.

"Man...that would have been really good, but when we did the first verse, I think I hit one note a little too high." Frank lets out a heavy sigh and picks his drumsticks up with a bit of a disappointed look.

"No dude you were good! But I know for sure that I skipped one chord for the chorus, I tried the best I could to cover it up though...was it noticable?" I asked.

He shoots me a bit of a confused look before shaking his head. "Nah dude, I didn't even realize it to be honest."

"Ugh...man it sounded so bad to me...buuuuuuut I guess the only opinions we really need are from everyone else." I turn my attention to our 'judges' and smile a little. "Sooo...how was it? They totally won right?"

Nothing was said. Just very awkward stares from all around the room, save for Motou and Hamada, who actually looked somewhat a tiny bit impressed. It all just made me feel even more nervous than before. All of a sudden, Hotaru began to slowly walk up to me, stopping dead in front of me and loooking up towards me.

I just sort of cocked my head back a little and looked over to Frank, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Uhhh...is something wrong?"

She shakes her head for a brief moment and then smiles, engulfing me in a tight hug shortly after. "That...was so cool! You actually CAN sing!"

I let out a little snort, reflecting back on when she had first told me that she didn't think that I could. Guess that it did feel kind of reassuring to know that I had proved her wrong on that one. "Hey I told you I did just a little bit!"

"And the screaming part...well at first it was a little weird to see someone like you do that! Actually...neither one of you look like you could or would to be honest...but it was actually really good!"

"What's that supposed to mean? They did it before we even did!" I pointed over to Mutou and Hamada.

Ageha had stepped forward, smiling a bit as well. "Yeah but they were already doing that when we first met them and we had already heard them do it a few times, so we were used to that a little bit already." She stops next to me and punches me in the shoulder pretty hard.

"Tss! Ow! Why the hell are you always punching me dude?" I rub the part of my now slightly bruised shoulder. That girl really did know how to throw a hook.

"Because you've known me since we were kids and you never mentioned that you actually had a pretty good voice!"

"Dude, I didn't even know back then! Me and Frank didn't start getting into music like this until we were like 12 or 13."

Frank nods along, pursing his lips a little. "It's the truth."

"Well it really was good! You guys sound really good playing for it just being the two of you. Good job!" Ageha gives Frank a little punch as well, though compared to mine, it was literally nothing.

"How come you friggin try to knock my arm off of my body, but you just basically tap Frank's shoulder when you do it to him?"

"Well, I've known you waaaaaaaaay longer. So you get the special treatment!" Ageha lets off her famous little evil grin.

"And I'm totally way cooler than you, just saying." Frank joins in right behind her and folds his arms with his chin held up high.

"Well, screw both of you. At least Hotaru thinks I'm cool!" I grab her and pull her to my side, taking her underneath my wing. "Right Hotie?"

She just buries her face into my shirt, letting out a little embarrassed grunt, nodding her head right after.

"Haha sweet! As long as she thinks I'm cool, then I'm good." I give Ageha a thumbs up and stick my tongue out at her. "Oh hey, seriously though...who are you guys voting for? Totally them, amirite?"

"I dunno man. It's a hard choice. It was all really good to be totally honest. Can't we just vote both?" Aoi looks around the room towards the other 'judges', searching for any responses.

Everyone looks to one another and shrugs for a second before they all nod.

"That works for me. We all win, cause we're all awesome!" Mutou throws his fist into the air.

"Hell yeah dude!" I join him right after, as does everyone else one by one.

Frank and I help them put their things back into their vehicle and we all head inside for a little lunch. We had all ended up just making some sandwiches and chilling out on the couches in the living room, conversating and whatnot for a while. Eventually Mutou and Hamada had left with their friend, leaving it back to just me, Aoi, Frank and the girls.

"Soooo...you guys wanna drink and hang out and shit again tonight?" Frank asked.

Aoi thinks for a second, but ends up shaking his head. "Unfotunately not tonight. Kotori and I are going to the mall to get some things tomorrow. Also we have some other things to take care of for soaring cl- mmf!"

Kotori elbows him in the stomach and shoots him a deathly glare, followed by Ageha giving off the same reaction. Honestly it had just confused me entirely.

"Uh...soaring who what now? What the hell are y'all staring at him like that for?" I asked.

Kotori lets out a little sigh and goes right back to smiling like before, as if none of that just happened. "No reason. Aoi and I are just going to the mall tomorrow to get a few things, but we're going to be up early, so that's why tonight wouldn't really work out right."

"Ohhh...I gotcha. All you had to say was you couldn't cause you two were going on a date tomorrow." I said, giving off the tiniest smirk.

Both of them instantly shot backwards and their faces had turned beat red.

"Hey we're just going to the mall!" Aoi puts his hands up, trying to assure that I've made some sort of mistake.

I decide to just smile and keep my mouth shut instead of teasing the two of them any further. "Alright alright, I was only kidding anyway."

"How about the rest of you?" Frank asked.

Ageha, Hotaru and Kanako all looked to one another and shook their heads.

"No I don't think the three of us are doing anything actually. Is that an open invitation for us to stay around and hang out with you guys?" Ageha asked.

Frank and I both look towards one another and shrug. I'm pretty sure neither of us had any reason to have a problem with it anyway.

"Sure, that sounds cool to me." Frank nodded.

"Anyways, Kotori and I are gonna go ahead and head back to the manor to get dinner started for us and the others. We'll leave the leftovers in the drawer in the fridge for you guys if you decide to come later okay?"

"Sure, thanks Aoi!" Ageha gives him and Kotori both a hug and walks back over to our little group.

"Wait, are you guys just gonna walk or something?" I ask.

He and Kotori both smile and nod before he turns her wheelchair in the direction that they were about to head.

"It feels really good outside right now, so why not?" Aoi shrugs.

"...But won't that take like half an hour?" Frank asked.

He just shrugs and turns around to grab onto Kotori's wheelchair. "Like I said, it feels nice outside."

"Well...alright man, if you say so. You two be careful walking. Call me or Frank if you guys need anything alright?"

Aoi gives me a nod and fist bumps Frank and I before seeing us off.

"Alright, we going inside then?" Frank asked.

"Yup. Gonna be lame as hell now though since Aoi left...also what with Aggs being here and everything." I had tried to sound serious, but ended up giggling before I could even finish the sentence.

She walks over to me, punching me in the shoulder once again in the exact same spot as before, causing this one a real bit of pain; She had hit a bit harder than before too. "Tch. You jerk!"

"OW dude! I was just kidding!" I begin rubbing the now very bruised section of my arm. "Tss...ahhh...my God you hit as hard as Frank and I do, I swear!"

"Good! Maybe you'll stop calling me those ridiculous nicknames now too." She lets off her usual little grin, punching her open palm a few times in an attempt to sound somewhat threatning.

"What nickname? You mean 'Aggs'?"

"Yes that! You've called me that ever since I was younger, so it makes me feel like you still think I'm a little kid!"

I put both of my hands together, letting out a little clap sound and flutter my eyebrows at her. I tried my hardest to use the girliest voice that I could come up with. "Aw, but it sounds so cute! It suits you so well!"

She just holds her fist up towards me even higher and shakes it a bit to 'threaten' me even further. "Ugh come on, I mean it Hayden!"

I put my hands up, throwing in the towel...or at least that was the look that I was going for. "Alright, alright...I'll stop, just for you...Agg sandwich."

Kanako and Hotaru both instantly begin to snicker a bit loudly behind her, making her turn around for a moment and shoot the both of them a glare. They instantly cover their mouths and straighten their posture the best they could, but they had still continued to giggle even after she had turned back towards me.

"That one wasn't even good!" She said.

I look over to Frank for a moment before turning back towards her, giving her a dumbfound look. "What are you talking about Aggs and bacon?"

"...Seriously?!" She takes one step closer to me.

I put one of my hands up to stop her in her tracks. "Woah, simmer down there Agg and cheese Mcgriddle, why are you getting frustrated?"

She lets out one hell of a troll like grunt. "Haaaaaayyyydennnn!"

Kanako and Hotaru were practically in tears now. I haven't the slightest idea how they were keeping from literally laughing out loud.

I fold my arms and crack my neck a little, ready to let the words flow like water. "Easter Aggs. Ostriches lay one of the largest Aggs in the world. Hard Boiled Aggs. Buttered toast with a side of fried Aggs. Cadbury caramel cream Aggs."

"UGHH! Would you shut up already!? It's not even funny!"

I look over to Frank and quickly point down towards his hands, gaining his attention like I had wanted. "Shit! Watch out Frank! Hurry and flip it over dude, you don't want to burn the yolk if you want the perfect sunny side up Agg."

He complies perfectly by making a turning motion with his hands as if he was flipping something over in an invisible pan, then gives me a thumbs up and smiles. "Got it!"

"I hate you both so much right now!" She begins to charge at me with her fist raised and a bit of rage in her eyes, though it was quite easy to tell that she didn't have any real intentions on harming me.

I simply plant my feet into the ground a bit harder and take stance, letting off a barely noticable smirk. As soon as her fist was about to come in contact with me, I quickly turn to the side and duck out of the way, reach my arm up to intercept hers, quickly spin her around to face away from me and then get up behind her and give her a tight hug.

"Agh! Whatttt!...How did y-"

I bring my face close to her ear and smirk a little. "Now Ageha, I told you that Frank and I had taken martial arts a bit a while back. I still remember how to block a good punch, ya know. I just sit there and allow you to punch me most of the time because you always used to when we were kids and it always makes me laugh and stuff...but I can't let you get your lick every time, now can I?"

She lets out one of her usual wierd noises like she always does every time that we hug or get close to one another. Hotaru had glanced over towards us for a second as well and gave off this really unsettling look which made me feel a little weird. I believe that was my cue to go ahead and let Ageha go before this gets any weirder than it already is.

I slowly release my grip from around her shoulders, clearing my throat a little and looking back over towards Frank. "Shall we head upstairs then?"

He lets out a little snicker and shakes his head. "Yeah man. Lets go."

"Sweet." I gesture my head towards the stairs that lead up into the main living room, to which he follows along with Kanako and Hotaru trailing behind him shortly after.

Ageha stands still for a moment before folding her arms and pursing her lips, mumbling in a bit of a pouty tone. "I swear...I hate you sometimes..."

"No you don't!" I called out from the stairwell, causing her to laugh a bit.

She shakes her head and smiles, following lastly up into the stairwell and shutting the door behind her firmly.

 **So I just realized that I didn't actually hit 'post chapter' earlier for the previous chapter...at like...friggin 10 am this morning. Nice going Hayden.**

 **Anyways I had ended up writing chapter 11 today as well and finished that about ten minutes ago, thankfully I caught on before posting this one before ten and having that mass confusion lol.**

 **But screw it, two chapters at once this time sooo I guess that's that.**

 **You peeps know what to do B)**

 **Stay awesome guys**

 **-H**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12: An Unexpected Approach

 **[Inside The Apt.]**

We all go into the living room and chat for a bit, discussing what we should do for the night and begin deciding on dinner.

"So, you guys should DEFINITELY make those steaks again." Ageha folds her arms and smirks at Frank and I.

He and I both look to one another and smile. "Heh. Told you guys we could cook a mean ass steak." I said.

Frank walks into the kitchen towards the refrigerator. "I'm gonna go pull a few out of the freezer and start thawing them in the sink. Anybody want anything to drink? A soda or something?"

As soon as I raise my hand and start to speak, Frank shoos it away with a flick of his wrist.

"What the hell man? You asked."

"But I already know what you want, jackass. We drink and eat like, the literal same exact stuff." He stated matter of factly.

I shrug and smile to myself. "Hey just making sure you don't slack off and forget."

Frank shakes his head, then looks over towards all of the girls once more. "Sorry, as I was saying girls, you want anything to drink?"

"Sure, you got any oolong tea?" Ageha let's off a little cocky smirk for some reason.

"Oh, absolutely. That's like one of our top five in the tea category." Frank pulls out one of the small half liter plastic bottles and tosses it over towards Ageha. "Heads up!"

She catches it easily and looks a little shocked as she reads the back of the bottle. "Wait, you...actually have it? Are you guys sure that you aren't actually Japanese on the inside?"

I roll my eyes and chuckle a little, putting my hand up to catch the sprite that Frank tosses over to me. "Well, we used to go to our local asian market all the time back in the states. We've always loved Japanese food and snacks and drinks and stuff."

"Yep. It's the truth." Frank pulls himself out a sprite and looks over to the other two. "You guys want a tea too? Sprite?"

Kanako puts her hand up and smiles as she shakes her head. "No thanks...just water if you don't mind."

"Alright, water it is. How about you Hotaru?" Frank raises an eyebrow as he asks.

"I'll...just have what Hayden's having...if that's okay." She instantly looks away as soon as she had replied.

Frank nods before taking out another sprite and lightly tossing it over to me to hand over to her.

"Ugh, you always used to copy him like that when you were younger too!" Ageha grunts at her sister, sipping her tea a bit angtsy as she did so.

She grabs the can of soda from me and just blushes, turning away with a little embarrassed look on her face.

"And? So what, I never minded when she did that. You mad because I'm cooler than you or something Aggle pie?" I raise my eyebrow and sip my sprite a tad smugly.

She punches me in my shoulder, surprisingly lightly this time, and gives me a hard stare. "Ugh, with the nicknames!"

"You know you like it." I attempt to stifle a laugh, but ultimately fail in doing so, causing the others to giggle a little as well

"I hate you. I hate you so much." She folds her arms and pouts while shaking her head angrily.

I roll my eyes and smile, walking up to her and putting my hand on her shoulder, startling her a little in doing so. "I mean, do you really hate me Ageha? Because honestly that would suck really bad if you did." I try my hardest to give my best pouty face.

Fortunately, I excelled at it, since she had almost instantly gave in, letting out a long sigh and smiling to herself. "Of course I don't ya jerk. You've been one of my best friends since we were kids! Even if you did leave for a while, you were still always my best friend at heart."

I give her a thumbs up and pat her on the back. "Good! That's what I like to hear.

I must've hit her a little harder than I thought since she had jolted forward a bit when I had done so. "Uh, ow! I mean that's good to know but ow!"

"Hey, now you know how I feel when you always punch me!"

She rolls her eyes at me and continues to sip at her tea.

I chug the last bit of my sprite and toss it into the trash as I walk into the kitchen. "Alright dude, ready to get this thing underway?"

"You know, I would have said yes, but I actually just thought of something unfortunate." Said Frank.

I cock my head back a little and ponder to myself on what the problem could have possibly been before the realization had finally hit me after looking towards where Frank was pointing...our liquor cabinet. "Aw damnit. We left the last bit of freaking alcohol at the manor, didn't we?"

He nods and turns the water from the sink a little lower, before turning back towards me as he grabs his keys from the counter. "Guess we gotta go and get some more."

I nod and grab my keys and wallet as well. "Sounds good. Getting a little lower than I'd like to be on gas anyway, so we can stop at a station on the way too."

Frank rolls his eyes at me and shakes his head, letting out a little snicker.

"What?" I asked.

"You've got like...what...half a tank?" He asks a bit cockily.

"Uh yeah. As I just said, a little lower than I like to be."

He laughs a little at me and opens the front door after setting the alarm. "If you say so. Come on man let's head out."

I nod and look over towards the girls; Hotaru in particular to be exact. "You all ready?"

They all nod, tossing their empty drinks into the trash one by one. Hotaru and her sister instantly hop over to my side, whilst Kanako shyly mosies her way on over towards Frank somewhat.

"Shotgun!" "I'm sitting in the front!" Ageha and Hotaru called out simultaneously.

They both grunt and glare at each other like they're ready to kill one another.

"What no way, I definitely said it first!" Ageha shouted.

"A-chan. I believe you're solely mistaken." Hotaru spoke with a proud smile on her face.

Ageha lets out a loud grunt and turns towards me, still glaring as she had been before.

"Uhh...why are you looking at me like t-"

"Hayden, flip a coin to see who gets to ride in the front!" Ageha shouted, turning back towards her sister after.

"Oh...nonononono, you guys aren't throwing me into the middle of-"

"Please, Hayden?" Hotaru begged with puppy dog eyes.

"Ugh...you too?" I shake my head and look over towards Frank and Kanako, silently begging for help with my eyes.

He puts his hands up and shakes his head. "Hey man, this one is all you, don't look at me."

"Uhh, wow. Okay, thanks asshole." I roll my eyes and turn back towards the two girls who are now dead in front of me, staring me down hard.

"Well? Come on then!" Ageha puts her hands on her hips and taps her foot against the floor at a rapid pace.

"Uhh...okay...umm...how about this! First one to guess my favorite color gets-"

"Blue!" They both shouted instantly.

"Uhh...alright nevermind. Hmm...how about, first one who remembers my birth-"

"September 10th, 1992!" They both shouted again simultaneously.

I heave a heavy sigh and shake my head. At this rate, I'll be here all day if I don't come up with something fast.

I lift my head and look up to the girls once again. They're both just...staring at me...awaiting another question, ready as ever to answer before the other one.

I put a finger to my chin and think harder than I believe I ever have in my life, before finally coming to a conclusion.

I snap my finger loudly, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. "Got it."

"Boy, this should be good." Frank lets out a little chuckle, folding his arms and shaking his head as he leaned his back against the wall.

I fold my arms proudly and smile. "Staring contest."

Frank stares at me blankly for a moment before face palming. "Christ, you are an idiot."

"What? I'm running out of ideas here." I said.

Frank pulls a quarter out of our little coin jar on the table. "Ageha, heads or tails?"

"Huh? Oh...uhh...heads I guess?"

"Alright, that means you're tails Hotaru." Frank had already begun to flip the coin.

It spins furiously in the air for a few seconds before dropping to the ground with a dramatic little 'clink', rolling on it's side for a few feet, before coming to a stop, spinning for a brief moment, and then dropping.

The coin lands heads facing up.

"Hah! Mmmmmm!" Ageha turns to her sister and sticks her tongue out.

Hotaru lets out a low and almost demonic sounding growl at her, gritting her teeth.

"Yeah yeah, that only means that Hotaru gets shotgun on the way back home you know. Gotta be fair." I raise my eyebrow at Ageha and let off a little smirk.

Hotaru looks back to her sister once more and lets off a cocky little smile.

"Ugh...fine fine. But I get it first so I still win!" She sticks her tongue out at her once more before walking over to my side.

"Alright you two, simmer down. Are we all ready to go now?" Frank looks around the room briefly as he asks, gaining a few nods from everyone including myself.

He nods along and lets Kanako out of the door before him, causing her to blush furiously and turn away, as per usual. Ageha pushes me out of the way jokingly and storms out of the front door.

"Ladies first!" She shouts back to me.

I roll my eyes and look over to Hotaru, who just remains in the same spot she had been standing previously. I give her a little smile and gesture my head towards the door.

She smiles back at me and slowly begins working her way over, blushing a little as soon as she had passed me.

Frank definitely must have had some ridiculous things going through his head since as soon as she had done so, he raised his eye at me and let off a pretty douchy smirk.

We all walk outside and hop into the cars, pulling off from the aparment shortly after for our little grocery trip.

 **[At The Store]**

"Ooh...this stuff looks good!" Ageha points to another bottle of extremely cheap looking wine.

I rub the bridge of my nose and let out a little sigh. "Why do you keep looking at the fruitiest drinks here? You're basically looking at friggin soda. You might as well just buy some cherry 7-up or something."

"...But it's clearly wine?" She points towards the bottle, giving me a stupid look.

I step a little closer towards the shelf, picking up the small bottle and examining the contents written on the back. "Three percent alcohol for a 750ml bottle...I think a shot of mouthwash has more alcohol than that Aggie."

"But you guys liked the melon sake! That's a 'fruity' drink!" She folds her arms and raises her head high like she's just won the ultimate championship of all comebacks.

I just raise my eyebrow a little and roll my eyes, letting out a little snort. "Yeah, a fruity drink with THIRTY...percent alcohol. I never said that I didn't like sweeter tasting drinks, I just like them to have a little kick to it if I'm going to be drinking to have fun."

"We'd probably have to drink like three entire bottles of that fruity bullshit wine to even begin to feel anything." Frank stated.

I nod proudly, continuing to browse through the contents on the shelf. "Yeah my point exactly. Now...If you guys wanted to get some more of that melon sake that you liked so much the other night, be my guest. I'll gladly second to that descision."

"I'll third to that one." Frank added in with a giggle.

"I don't think that's an actual way to use the term...but I'll count it!" I give him a thumbs up and glance over towards Hotaru, who seems to have piqued her interest in something particular.

I slowly walk over to her and peek over her shoulder, startling her a little bit.

"Wh-AH!"

She leaps backwards, almost dropping the bottle onto the floor and shattering it, though, luckily my reflexes had come in to save the day at the last second as I had caught the bottle inches away from the hard tiled floor, fumbling with it for only a moment.

"Jeez Hotie, a bit jumpy today are we?" I laugh to myself a little before examining the bottle thoroughly. When I had finally gotten around to the bottom of the bottle, I could feel myself go completely wide eyed.

 _'195 Proof Grain Alcohol'_ It read.

"Holy mother of God...Hotie, what the hell made you look at this one?!"

She looks away for a moment and shrugs, her cheeks growing redder by each passing second. "Well...y-you said that the more percent that it has...that the stronger it was. So...I was trying to find the strongest one..."

"Yeah...well uh...heh...wow. I uh...believe you may have just succeeded. Holy shit man." I shake my head, examining the contents once more just to confirm that I had read properly.

"I'm all for trying it man. It's a small bottle anyway. Only like a shot or two for each of us." Frank walks over to me and grabs the bottle nonchalantly, throwing it into our basket after.

"Heh...alright man I'm in. The question is...do we really know what we're getting ourselves into?"

He lets out a low chuckle and shakes his head. "Do we EVER?"

We continued browsing the shelves for another ten minutes or so, picking out a few other small bottles of different liquors, simply for having some variety to keep at the house in our liquor cabinet. Frank and I had grabbed a few extra things we had needed for the house as well, such as some more milk and eggs.

After all was said and done, we had walked over to the checkout lines, to find that they had only had one clerk working the night, and one hell of a line of people.

"Well...uh...this is gonna take a bit." I said.

Frank lets out a long sigh and leans against the basket. "Yyyyyep."

After a few minutes had passed, I had begun to notice that this one person who had been about two bodies ahead of us had been periodically looking over his shoulder towards our group.

I glance over towards Frank, only to see that he had apparently caught attention of it as well as I had.

I lean in towards him a bit closer in an attempt not to startle the girls or anything over something that could possibly be nothing at all.

"Yo, Frank." I whispered.

"Yeah I know, I saw him too." He nodded along.

"I mean...it IS probably nothing, you know."

"Hmm...is it though?"

I nod and look over towards the mysterious guy once more to find him looking over here once again and smiling a bit before slowly turning around. "Let's hope."

I lower my eyes to half mast and mumble to myself. _"What the fuck are you staring at?"_

After we had checked out and paid for everything we had all begin walking to my car. About halfway there I couldn't help but to continue getting this weird feeling of being watched. Sure enough, to my confirmation, as soon as I had looked over my shoulder I had found the problem.

That strange guy had seemed to be following us.

"Girls." I said in a low monotone voice.

Hotaru and the others turned towards me and gave me a weird look.

"Yes?" Ageha replied first with her eye raised.

"Go to the cars."

Frank instantly caught on to my tone and slowly looked over to where I had been looking before. Instantly he had stopped as well and handed the basket over to Kanako. "Listen to him. Please, bring this over to my car, we can just put everything in there after. Hurry."

She gives Frank a very concerned look, but takes the basket and nods without any question.

Ageha begins to look very concerned as well. She walks up to me and puts her hand on my shoulder. "Hayden, you're really scaring me...what's going-"

"That guy behind me is following us."

Her eyes grow ten times wider than before and she just gives me this extremely distraught look.

"Ageha, Go. Please. Everything's cool just give us a second." As soon as I had turned around, she pulls at my shirt a little, stopping me in my tracks.

"Hayden stop. This isn't funny, you're actually scaring me..."

"Do what I said, please." I turn my head a little toward Frank, who's already begun pulling his butterfly knife from out of his pocket.

He looks over to me and nods, ready for anything as I had been.

As soon as the strange man had come into the light, we had both gotten in a bit of a fighting stance, keeping a keen sense of our surroundings, ready for whatever would happen.

The man looks up and suddenly just smiles and waves. "Ageha, Hotaru! Been a while hasn't it?"

I instantly cock my head back and look over to Frank, who's already loosened his stance a little and begun to put away his knife slowly.

I hear Ageha let out a sigh from behind me and I turn my attention towards her to see her shaking her head.

"You know this guy?" I ask.

"That's who you were worried about?" She lets out another little sigh and punches me in my arm.

"Ow, what the hell was that one for?"

"You had me half assed thinking that we were actually about to get raped or something! That's just Koda!" She puts her hands on her hips and gives me one hell of a glare.

"Well I'm sorry, but how the hell was I supposed to know that you'd know him? Especially since he walked up speaking English and shit like that out of the blue. Plus...raped? Seriously? Like we'd actually let that happen." I had continued to rub my arm a bit once again. Pretty soon at this rate, it's probably going to end up just falling off.

She rolls her eyes at me and shakes her head. "He lives down the street from me and my sister, and we've known him for a little while now. He's a student at Roshido academy."

"Oh...that's that rich school or whatever huh? That's cool I guess." I turn towards him and give him a little nod and shake his hand. "Sup man, I'm Hayden."

"Frank." He follows right behind me doing the same as I had.

"Yes yes okay." He shoos us away with his wrist a little, causing Frank and I to look at one another questionably.

"So what's up Hotaru? Still no boyfriend?" He asks a bit proudly, almost as if he had already known the answer.

"N-no. I don't have one..." She turns her head a little, shy as she always is for no reason.

"Ah I see." He turns to the side and mumbles a little. _"Still have a shot then..."_

I instantly turn my attention to him as soon as I had heard him whisper. Little to his knowledge, he wasn't very good at it because I ended up catching every bit of it.

I couldn't really explain why, but I could immediately feel this instant bit of rage build up and my blood come to a bit of a boil, though I just took a deep breath and decided to keep quiet. I couldn't really tell what it was about this guy, but I definitely knew that there was something...off about him, and I didn't like it one bit.

"Anyways, it was nice to see you two again. I'm sure well meet up again really soon. See ya!" He gives another little wave and walks off almost a bit too proudly if I had to say.

Ageha let's out an exasperated sigh and rolls her eyes. "Man he's so annoying."

"Why do you say that? You were being pretty friendly with him like ten seconds ago." I give her a cocky little smirk and fold my arms.

"Yeah, he's a nice guy and all but he thinks so highly of himself just because he's rich and since his Dad owns the academy and all...it's annoying." She rolls her eyes and lets out a little sigh at the end.

"Ah I see. His English was actually like...really good too." I stated, continuing to keep an eye on him as he walked of down the street.

"Oh, that's because he was actually born in the U.S. His Dad met his mom there apparently and married her a few years after. They all moved here around three years ago to open the academy and they actually all speak really fluent English and Japanese. To tell the truth, a lot of people that go to that school come from the U.S...it's mostly like a boarding school or something now."

I look over towards Ageha and raise an eyebrow, giving her a very cocky smirk. "Boy you uh...sure know a lot about him don't you Ageha?"

She eyes me down hard and lets out a grunt. "Yeah, because he literally never shuts up once he starts talking. A lot of the people at that school are like that actually...just ask Kanako."

Frank and I both look over to her and cock our heads back in confusion.

She smiles and laughs a little nervously. "I used to go there when I was a first year student back then...but I didn't rerally fit in well over there, so I came to Keifuu!"

"Ohh I gotcha...cool then! We're all much cooler repping the Keifuu crew anyway." Frank gives her a thumbs up and laughs.

"Heheh...still doesn't explain why Ageha knows him so well, hmm? Maybe they're just secretly dating and not telling any-OW!"

She grabs my ear and yanks downwards, letting out a grunt. "Ugh as if! He's ridiculously annoying and full of himself! Plus, he wouldn't go for me anyway cause he's had an insanely huge crush on my sister since he first met us."

"...Ah." That feeling of anger that I had felt before had just grown twice in size. I have no idea how I was able to keep my cool about it so well.

"Anyways, I say it's about time we head back. We've already been gone for an hour." Frank pulls out his keys and pops his trunk, beginning to stow some of the groceries inside.

I grab a few myself and toss them in, completing the cargo load. "Yeah, agreed."

After shutting his trunk and picking up the basket, Ageha quickly runs over to the passenger door of my car cheerily.

I quickly fold my arms and clear my throat, stopping her dead in her tracks. "What uh...what are you doing there Aggie?"

She lets out a little nervous chuckle and scratches the back of her neck, kicking at the ground a little with her foot. "Uh...heh...I was just uh...you know..."

"You weren't thinking that I had forgotten that it was Hotie's turn to ride shotgun were you?" I raise my eyebrow at her, causing her to turn away in embarrassment.

"N-no I wasn't...I was just...gonna...hold the door open for her, yeah! That's it!"

"Ageha Himegi...do you not think that I can tell when you're lying by now? Girl, get your ass in that back seat." I laugh a little and shake my head.

She rolls her eyes and snorts a little loudly as she steps into the back. "Okay okay, fair enough."

I look over towards Hotaru and gesture towards the passenger door, to which she complies with a smile as she hops into the car.

Frank and Kanako had already been pulling out of the parking lot, making me shake my head and sigh to myself. "Thanks for waiting for me bro. Sheesh."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Unanswered Questions

We arrive back at our place shortly after and begin unloading the small amount of groceries that we had gotten, pulling the steaks out of the sink and beginning to season and prepare them when we had finished.

After popping them into the oven, I had clapped my hands loudly and rubbed them together to get everyone's attention. "Alright, time to get this show on the road! Frank?"

He nods and begins pulling out a few shot glasses from the cabinet. "Way ahead of you."

"Awesome. If you dont mind, could you pour the drinks Mr. bartender?" I asked jokingly.

"You got it boss man." He gives me a thumbs up and complies by beginning to make the five of us our first drink.

We had decided to start with a good old shot of the Bailey's caramel irish cream we had bought. Frank and I of course thought nothing of it, since Bailey's happened to be one of the few drinks that we actually enjoyed straight. The girls on the other hand...well lets just say they were a little different.

"Agh...oh God what the hell is this? It's like coffee that burns your throat!" Ageha shouted.

"Aggie...that would be because it's basically coffee...with alcohol in it...you ding dong. Do you not know by now that alcohol burns when you drink it?"

Kanako had started to cough a little and pat her chest, gaining a little chuckle from Frank. The instant the two of them had looked at one another, she had turned away blushing whereas Frank just sort of cleared his throat nervously.

I couldn't help but to smirk to myself at the thought of my best friend actually showing even the slightest interest in someone like that since it really wasn't like him at all. I had decided best to keep my mouth shut about it for the time being though.

"You know Ageha, you're sitting here complaining about the Bailey's...which is only 28% alcohol content. How are you going to fare with that other shit we bought? It's 110% you know." I said with a cocky smirk, setting my empty glass down into the sink, to which everyone else had followed.

She shrugs her shoulders and heaves a heavy sigh. "I'm already beginning to regret agreeing to it."

"Too late now." Said Frank.

She lets out a little grunt and turns towards her sister, glaring. "You just had to pick the one called 'Deathwish' didn't you?"

Hotaru lets off a very devilish grin, which was very much out of place for someone like her. "What's wrong A-chan? Scared?"

I instantly look over to her and fold my arms, scoffing a bit and shaking my head. "Okay, who are you and what have you done with Hotaru?"

I must have triggered something in her brain, because the instant that I had asked her, she had immediately went right back to her normal self. "But...it is me, I was just kidding around with A-chan and..."

Ageha jumps in front of her sister, cutting her off abruptly in the process. "Hayden, you do not know Hotaru like you think you do. She can get twice as bad as me at times! Especially when she doesn't get her way with something!"

I scoff to myself and look over towards Hotaru. "No way...I can't see her actually being like that. But...I do have to admit, she surprised me a little just with picking out this Deathwish shit. That was a pretty bold move, especially for you Hotie!"

"Well...I know you like your challenges and stuff...and since I already did the pepper with you yesterday, I figured that maybe I'd be able to do this one with you too..." She kept her attention away from me the whole time that she talked to me.

I chuckle to myself lightly and ruffle my fingers through her hair a little. "You never cease to amaze me Hotie."

She makes a little embarrassed grunt and lowers her head a little, keeping quiet the entire time.

Ageha makes an annoyed sound and taps her foot against the ground impatiently.

I place my fist in front of my mouth and clear my throat. "Uh anyways...what should we all do? We could just do truth or dare again...or maybe play charades or something?"

"Truth or dare again!" Ageha shouted.

I look around the room briefly with a questionable eye raised, to which everyone just either nods or shrugs nonchalantly.

"Sure. That's fine with us." Said Frank.

"Ya know, we really need to invest in some board games, Frank. But...screw it, truth or dare it is again." I shrug my shoulders and grab a beer from the fridge, pop it open, and proceed to chug it down in about ten seconds.

"Jeez...what did you do that for?" Kanako asked me with a little giggle.

"Well, we need an empty bottle, soooo I got us an empty bottle." I said matter of factly, flashing around the now empty beer bottle in my hand.

The four of them all chuckle a bit, before they each take a seat on the floor and prepare themselves for the game at hand.

After all getting comfortable and setting the glasses and bottles of alcohol next to us, I had placed the empty beer bottle in the middle of our circle of five. From where I was, I had Hotaru to my left, Ageha to my right, Frank directly across from me and Kanako in between him and Hotaru.

I quickly glance around at everyone and begin to smile. "Now...before we start our little game...there's something that we need to get out of the way first."

Frank instantly lets out a sigh from across me and shakes his head. "Boy I was seriously kind of hoping you'd just forgotten about it."

"Nah. How could I when Hotaru picked it out for me?" I had glanced over towards her as I said her name, but of course she just looked away like always.

I grab each of our glasses and pour the five of us each a shot of the insanely strong smelling liquor. We each take it into our hands and get in a ready position for guzzling it down.

I heave a heavy sigh and nod to everyone. "You all ready?"

They each nod lightly, though I can clearly tell none of us were really prepared for what was to come.

"Alright. Three...two...one...kill it." Frank and I quickly shoot back the small amount of liquid, swallowing it as fast as we possibly could.

The girls were a bit slower to follow along, though they had ultimately complied. It didn't take very long for any of us to realize that this wasn't a very thoughtful choice.

"Well...that tastes like absolute ass." I said, rubbing my tongue around in my mouth a little. "Yuck."

"Ahah...yeah...little throat burnage there too. Wow...that shit is strong." Frank followed, rubbing his troat a little.

The three girls were all almost in tears from how strong it was, and by the looks on their faces, they didn't enjoy the taste very much either.

I clear my throat a little, enough to where I can at least say something without feeling the burn too much.

"You...girls alright?" I ask, choking up a little halfway through my sentence.

Hotaru and Kanako both look to one another and remain quiet with slightly unamused looks on their faces.

Ageha on the other hand began coughing so badly that I had honestly almost half assed thought she messed something with her throat up big time.

"Looks like she isn't faring too well with it huh?" Frank asked, giggling a little.

I roll my eyes and scoff a little, walking over towards her and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Heh...you alright there?"

She tries her best to clear her throat, coughing a bit periodically through her words before finally stopping long enough for a small sentence. "No it's...I'm good. I'll be good."

"Alright good. Cause that was only your first one." I smirk heavily, patting her on the back a few times, gaining an annoyed grunt from her.

"I mean, it wasn't all that bad ya know...it did taste like total shit though, I'll give it that at least." Frank chuckles, taking the empty bottle from the circle into his hands and giving it a spin.

"Alright, guess that means Frank's going first." I said.

"Hey, the opportunity was there and nobody was going for it, so I took the chance." He shrugs.

"Yeah yeah, you just didn't want to be the first one to do a dare. I know you all to well by now." I smirk and fold my arms, giving him a playful stare.

"Hey what can I say, you know me dude."

I nod and smile, awaiting the bottle to come to a stop, and for our game to truly begin.

As per last night, the game started pretty easily with simple dares that even a three year old would most likely accomplish. This time around though, we didn't play for very long and had decided to move on to other games instead. We played a few rounds of charades; also I had downloaded the seven second challenge app onto my phone and we had played that for about an hour, then we hooked up guitar hero and played that for a while as well.

Normally Frank and I were insanely good at guitar hero, but we were feeling pretty good by the time we had gotten to playing it, and were actually messing up a good bit. It was pretty safe to say that Kanako and Hotaru were definitely feeling pretty great since they both went on to dancing and whatnot to the songs that we would play. Ageha on the other hand...really does not know how to hold her liquor for long periods of time.

About three hours from when our night started, Frank had three shots of deathwish and I had my three, plus adding on two beers each on top of that. We were at the point where we felt good enough to call it quits, and thats exactly what he and I did.

Kanako and Hotaru had that one shot each of deathwish plus a beer for Kanako, with half a beer for Hotaru on the other hand. After that, they had requested the sake, and had been slowly drinking at a few glasses each since then.

Ageha on the other hand...had three full shots...plus Kanako and Hotaru's second one that we poured since they didn't drink them, making it a solid five; not to mention that she was absolutely downing them back to back to 'just get them out of the way' as she had said. As soon as she was through with that, she had immediately grabbed a beer since she had seen Frank and I do so and she 'didn't want to be left behind'. After her second beer, when Kanako and Hotaru had grabbed the bottle of sake, she instantly had downed the rest of what she had left, ran over to grab a wine glass, and poured herself one very clumsily.

She's on her second one now, and It's pretty easy to say that she's a goner already.

"Come on Hayden, just *hiccup*...just try it!" Ageha clumsily tries to hand me her glass of sake.

"Uh...I've already had this stuff before, you ding dong. Aggie...don't you think you're good enough by now? Jeez, I mean...you're like twice as bad off as we all are."

"I gotta say, I totally agree with him. I think it's probably a good time to call it quits...I mean, how are you gonna pull off hiding this one when you get back home?" Frank asked with a raised eyebrow.

"And how am I gonna be able to drive you guys if I keep going? That's why Frank and I had stopped quite a while back."

"What? Heheh...*hiccup* what do you mean? I already talked to my mom earlier, she already knows we're staying here..." Ageha begins giggling a little, attempting to pull her phone out of her pocket...but failing terribly the first few times.

"Jesus Aggie...do you want me to just-"

She puts her finger to my lips and shakes her head. "Shhhhh...I...I got it...okay? Heheheh.."

I can't help but roll my eyes and shake my head before slowly taking the wine glass from her hands, gaining a little half annoyed grunt from her.

"Sorry, but you're done for tonight. Now...what's this about staying here? You aren't lying to me are you Ageha?" I give her a hard stare and fold my arms.

She just stands there, continuing to giggle while trying to pull her phone from her pocket, finally succeeding after what felt like years. "Got it!"

I heave a heavy sigh and shake my head once more. "You know, maybe if you wouldn't wear those tight ass shorts that hug your waist so tightly, you would have had much less of a problem."

"Shhh...just...just hush yourself and *hiccup* read it." She said, handing me her cell phone.

The instant I look at the screen, I roll my eyes and facepalm.

"See?" She says with a smile.

"No...I don't see, because I told you that I can't READ Japanese...only speak some." I look over towards the younger sibling, who catches eye of me doing so and surprisingly just smiles and waves instead of one of her normal shy gestures. "Come here for a sec Hotie."

She nods and complies, skipping happily over towards me and grabbing onto my arm, almost falling a few times in the process. "Yeeeesss Hayden?"

I chortle to myself a little at her slightly newfound drunken behavior. "My God...where is this side of you coming from, I wonder?"

She giggles for a moment, then sneezes off to the side, wiping her nose on the sleeve of my hoodie without realizing.

"Aw come on now Hotaru, this is my favorite jacket!" I heave a heavy sigh and shake my head, handing her the cell phone afterwards. "Does this really say that you guys can stay?"

She squints her eyes and gets closer to the screen, slowly flicking her thumb upwards to advance through the displayed conversation.

I couldn't help but to let out a little laugh at how ridiculous it had looked, with Frank joining in right behind me when he caught attention of it as well.

"Wow...my mom is actually letting us stay..." She said.

I can't help but to give a little look of disbelief. "You're really serious?"

She nods her head and smiles. "Mhmm! She just said as long as Ageha keeps me with her and that it was okay with you guys."

"Holy shit...your mom is actually letting the two of you stay at another boy's house?! That is completely unheard of, especially from Ms. Himegi!"

"Well...she really does trust you, Hayden. So...I guess that's what made her decide to allow it maybe?" She shuts off the screen and goes to hand her sister the phone back.

After looking at the device for a few seconds she finally lets out a little gasp. "Oh there's my phone!"

"Were...were you even here at all mentally for like the past two minutes? You watched me hand your phone to your sister yourself, you idiot."

The others let out a little giggle, whereas Frank had almost spit out the beer that he had just taken the last sip of.

Normally, Ageha probably would have punched the crap out of me, but instead of that, I had just gotten a very weak annoyed mumble.

I sigh to myself and shake my head at her, turning my attenion to Kanako afterwards. "Guess you'll be staying too then?"

She gives a little nod and smiles. "I guess if they are, and if it's okay with you guys. I don't really have to worry about permission from anyone."

"Sure thing, sounds good." Frank said with a smile.

Kanako pulls out her cell phone and begins to fiddle with it a bit. "I'll just text Kotori and let her and Aoi know."

Frank just nods whilst picking up some of the empty bottles that had been lying around. "Good idea."

"Come on guys, movie time." I beckon the others to join in, and everyone complies by each taking a seat. I turn my attention towards Ageha, grabbing her by the arm gently and moving her to sit upon the couch next to me.

Kanako had plopped down on the smaller couch that only seated two, looking over to Frank and blushing a bit before turning away. I could see it in Frank's face that he looked a little nervous, though he did pretty well in hiding it. Any other person probably would have never caught on to it.

I sat myself next to Ageha and grabbed the remote, only to have it snatched away by a very playfully tipsy Hotaru. She giggles proudly and sits herself right next to me with remote in hand, turning the tv on right after.

I let out a little sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose and yawning afterwards. "Yeah, remind me to literally never let you two have alcohol again."

She and the others (save for Ageha, who was literally already passed out sleeping) had all laughed a little, and then something I was definitely not prepared for.

I could start to feel Hotaru move closer towards me, though only inches at a time. My heart began to race once again as I had started to rethink the first time she had felt the results of intoxication.

 _"Crap, she's getting close. What the hell do I do now? Need to move before she..."_

Before I had any time to react, Hotaru grabs the blanket from the end of the couch, throws it over the three of us and snuggles into my side, laying her head comfortably in the crease of my arm.

I clear my throat nervously and swallow much harder than I would have liked. My heart felt as if was ready to shoot straight out of my chest. My palms began to grow sweaty and I felt weaker than ever, yet at the same time...I felt ready to take on a full sized grizzly bear.

I slowly looked down towards her while her attention was on the tv, and I couldn't help but to feel happy. Something had to seriously be wrong for me to feel something so strongly for such a simple gesture...but maybe it's the simpler things like this in life that are the best.

Needless to say, I had seen that sitting down for a movie was probably not the best choice after drinking so much, considering that after about half an hour had passed, Kanako and I were the only ones left up. Hotaru had passed out with her face buried underneath my arm, whereas Frank had at some point leaned halfway over his side of the couch next to Kanako and blacked out himself.

Her and I just look to one another and laugh silently for a moment, before I had decided to slowly and very carefully lift Hotaru from off of me in an attempt not to wake her. After a few light movements and slight adjustments, I had succeeded. I threw the blanket over her and her sister and moved a pillow underneath their heads, making them as comfortable as possible.

Kanako had been smiling the entire time that I had been tending to the two of them, giggling to herself a little as well. When I was done I had quietly walked over to her and looked towards Frank's now limp body, chuckling to myself once again at the sight.

"Need me to move him so you can lay down?" I quietly asked.

She looks over at him for a moment and smiles before looking back up at me and shaking her head. "He seems comfortable, and I'm fine how I am, so it's okay."

I nod my head and walk over to the linen closet to grab her a pillow and blanket, handing them both to her afterwards.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"No probs. Well...I'm going to sleep in our room. It's the first door on the left upstairs if any of you need anything alright?"

She nods her head and leans to the side onto her pillow, closing her eyes.

I let out a huge yawn and rub my heavy eyes as I walk up the stairs to my room. The instant I had opened the door, I had hopped straight into my bed and I swear as soon as my head hit the pillow I was out like a light.

After about an hour or so, Ageha had slowly come to wake from her alcohol coma downstairs. A slight bit more sobered up now, she slowly opens her eyes and looks at the dark surroundings for a moment, finally coming to look at her side.

"Wait...where'd Hayden go?" She asked herself.

Hotaru begins to shuffle around a bit on the couch and Ageha quickly covers her mouth after being a bit louder than needed.

"Crap...they're all sleeping? How long was I out?"

She looks around once more at her surroundings before glancing over to where I had been sitting before.

"Wait...if Hayden isn't in here then...that means...maybe he's in his room sleeping..." Suddenly Ageha lets out a long sigh and takes a deep breath, slowly getting up from the couch successfully without waking anyone.

"Come on Ageha...this may be your only chance. Better to try and fail than to have never tried at all..." She continuously talks to herself for the entire trip upstairs, pushing open a few of the doors in search of my room, until finally reaching the foot of my door and pushing it open slowly.

I'm not a very heavy sleeper, so the instant that she had pushed my door open and it had begun to creak, my head shot up from my pillow right then and there.

All I could see was the silhouette of what looked to be a person standing in the darkness of my doorframe between my room and the hallway. My heart began to race a bit due to such an unexpected event.

"Who goes there?" I half choked up on my sentence out of the slight fear that this may not actually be an alive person. I've dealt with my share of spooky shit, so ghosts and spirits were definitely not my preferred cup of tea.

The silhouette begins to slowly move closer with no response and my heart rate completely skyrockets as I reach for my knife on my nightstand.

"Is someone there?" I ask once more, a bit louder this time around.

"Sorry...I didn't mean to wake you like that..."

As soon as it had spoken to me, I instantly put away my weapon and regained control of my heart rate. I'd know that voice anywhere.

"Ageha?" I said, leaning over to turn on my lamp. Sure enough, to my confirmation, it was indeed exactly who I thought it was. "W-Why are you up here? Is everything okay?"

"Can...we talk?" She asked in a very sincere and almost pleading voice.

I slowly sit up and proceed to throw my shirt back on quickly. "Uh...yeah sure. Are you okay?"

She nods her head and smiles, clearing her throat very nervously. "Uhh...well...can we start this off by just asking each other questions?"

"Start...what off?"

She shrugs and shakes her head lightly. "I...don't know. I guess it'll just make me feel more comfortable this way..."

I cock my head back and give her a really confused look. "Comfortable...for what? What are you talking about?"

"Just...please answer my questions. I'll ask one, and you ask one after okay? We have to be 100 percent honest about everything okay? I just...I don't know, I can't sleep and I guess this will help me a little...I guess there's just some things that have been on my mind."

I can already think of quite a few questions that I want to ask her, like 'What are you doing up here' or 'Why are you acting so weird right now?' I had ultimately just decided to keep quiet and nod in agreement.

"Thanks...okay...umm...oh! Why did you get so jumpy earlier when Koda had come to talk to us?"

I raise my eyebrow at her and scoff a little. "Dude, a random, strange guy that I don't know in any way...follows us out of a store...at night. I'm sorry, but Frank and I are instantly going to try and protect you girls when something like that happens.

"Awwww. I didn't realize we all meant that much to you guys!" She chuckles a bit nervously before clearing her throat again.

"Well...yeah. I mean Kanako is really cool and all too, but you and Hotie are my childhood friends, why would I want anything to happen to you two especially? I couldn't live with myself I had been around and didn't protect you from some random asshole trying to hurt you guys or something."

She gives me a wierd look like she's completely amazed by my words for whatever reason, before nodding lightly and turning away. "I see...okay...your turn."

I can't help but to wonder what the hell has gotten into her. She's never acted so strange before, and it was really bothering me on the inside. "Uh...alright then. Hmm...I don't really know what to ask honestly, I'm still half ass asleep."

"Just...think of anything. Whatever you ask me, I'll answer it truthfully no matter what."

"Hmm...alright. Uhh...oh I got one. Who's this strange person that you said you have a crush on from when Kotori had asked the night before?"

She instantly freezes up and keeps her attention away from me, swallowing hard before she finally said anything. "Uhh...I...don't know what y-"

"Didn't you just say we were being truthful? You're already trying to get out of the first question that I'm asking you."

"You're right...I'm sorry." She lets out a little sigh and nods taking a deep breath and exhaling fairly hard. "Go ahead...I'll answer whatever, nothing held back."

"My question remains the same."

"Yeah...I figured it would. It's just that...well i was trying to build up to this point...not just jump right to it..."

"Jump right...to what?"

She lets out a big sigh and takes a deep breath. "Uhh...well It's...It's you...Hayden. I have a crush...well...a ridiculously huge crush on you. I kinda always have since we were kids honestly."

I literally had no idea what to say from this point on. I mean...where do you go from when you have someone tell you something like that?

"That...took guts. Wow...I...never would have thought that you'd see me like that Ageha. You don't mean like...have a crush on me just like...you like the way that I am, like a best friend type crush or-"

"I have such a huge crush on you that if you were to ever ask me to choose between going out with you or getting ten million yen, I'd ask you where you're taking me to go on our first date."

"Well, jokes on you, you coulda taken the money and then took me out to eat anyway but in a fucking ferrari."

We both giggle a bit at my little mood lightening statement, which thankfully worked. It was weird to see her act like this in the first place anyway.

"Well I will say...that really was a bit unexpected to hear from you." I said.

"Right...my turn." She takes another deep breath and actually turns to face me this time. "Do you...like me?"

I should have seen this one coming, but somehow it still hit me like a brick. I heave a heavy sigh and ready myself for the worst. "Honestly Ageha...I mean...you're one of my best friends and...I'm really shitty when it comes to the whole dating thing...I don't even know the answer to that question myself since...well, we've never actually tried talking on that kind of level with you before..."

Ageha nods her head and remains silent.

"I mean like...we've been so close for so long...I wouldn't even know how to tell what it would feel like if my feelings actually did surpass friendship to be honest."

On the other hand, I still wasn't even sure how I felt about her sister entirely, since this really was all completely new to me.

"I see...what's so different about Hotaru then?" She asks with a bit of an annoyed tone.

"I...beg your pardon?"

"Wait no...I'm sorry. It was your turn to ask the next question. Go ahead."

"I mean...I...don't really know what to ask after all of that honestly..."

"Just ask anything." Her tone continued to sound more and more impatient by the moment.

I nod and take a deep breath to prepare myself. "Alright then...this is a weird question...but why the hell do you always make those weird ass noises and shit everytime that I get close to your ear and whisper in that stupid mock voice that I always do to joke around?"

"Oh boy...that."

I cock my head to the side and raise an eye at her. "'That'?...What do you mean 'that'?"

"I...don't know how to say it. I really don't know how to say it without making you think I'm weird."

I shake my head and laugh a bit. "Ageha Himegi...you've been weird since day one. Now answer the damn question."

She let out the absolute longest sigh possible and I could tell she was starting to get really nervous for some reason.

"Aggie? You alrig-"

"The reason that I had done that those few times is because...when you talk in that low voice like that...you..." She lets out another sigh and trails off, turning her head away from me.

"I...what?"

She slowly looks back towards me and shakes her head momentarily. "When you had talked like that it...it kind of...like...turned me on...a little."

I just look at her a bit disbelievingly after hearing that. I had to be half asleep or something.

"Okay actually...like...a lot. I wish that those few times that you had done it, that you wouldn't have. At least...not in front of people. Nobody's ever made me get like that before, only you. Do you know how hard it was to lie about those goosebumps?"

"Wait...so that's why you had...oh...OH." My eyes had grown twice the size they had been before from the sudden realization.

Ageha just turns her head away in embarassment and remains silent.

"But...why me? You're an awesome person and I'm sure any guy would kill to have a girl like you...so why me of all people?"

She shakes her head and smiles the best that she could. "Ah ah...it's my turn now."

I nod and await whatever is in store for me next.

"Do you have a crush on anyone?" She asks, her voice cracking a bit towards the end.

It kills me to have to lie, even though I had promised not to...but I really had no choice in the matter at hand. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, since I wasn't even completely sure of mine. "Nope. Like I said, I don't do the whole dating thing...I really am horrible with that lovey dovey stuff."

"I see...well...as long as you're in my life, I think I'd be okay with whatever happens in the end regardless."

I didn't really understand what she meant by 'In the end', but it seemed like she was being oddly specific about it in the way she said it.

"I'm...sorry for talking so much, it's your turn."

I shake my head and smile, putting a hand up as well. "I believe I don't have anymore. But feel free to ask away if you do."

"Hmm...just one." She said, turning away from me completely.

I give her a very weird look and ready myself the best that I could. "Uhh...okay...and that would be?"

She swallows hard and takes another deep breath before scooting incredibly close to me.

"Uhhh...what're you-"

Ageha looks up to me and smiles genuinely. "Since you say that you're not sure what going past friendship would feel like...what would you say...if I said that I wanted to kiss you?"

I instantly froze up. There was nothing at all that I could even think of to come back to that. "W...what?"

"I've...never kissed anyone before and...well, I want you to be my first Hayden. I know you say you don't do the whole dating thing and all and...well...it kinda sucks...but I understand. I've never dated anyone myself...but...that doesn't mean that I haven't thought about those types of things before."

Most guys in a situation like this probably would have done nothing short of taking the offer without hesitation...but there was just something about the way she had asked it so non-chalantly that it had actually halfway sort of bothered me a little. "You...really would want to waste something special like that on me?"

"Who said anything about wasting? Hayden, I've wanted you to kiss me literally since we were kids, not even kidding. I had even thrown subtle hints about it back in the day, but I guess you never noticed."

"I guess not...but you...really are serious about this then?"

She nods and clears her throat. "So...is that a yes?"

I let out a heavy sigh and fold my arms, nodding afterwards finally. "...Okay then."

She instantly shoots her attention towards me with wide eyes. "Wait...seriously?!"

I just nod my head and smile somewhat cockily.

She swallows nervously before slowly closing her eyes and puckering her lips up towards me.

I just laugh and shake my head, reaching my hands out and grabbing the sides of her head gently.

She had let out a tiny gasp of surprise as soon as I had touched her, and it just honestly made me chuckle a bit.

I begin bringing her face closer and closer to mine, and I could feel her start to shake a bit as we had closed the distance between ourselves. Right as my lips were mere inches away from hers, I gently turned her head to the side and kissed her on her cheek.

"Huh?" She opened her eyes and looked at me, confused. "Why did you..."

"I kissed you. Just like you asked." I said with a proud smile.

She scoffs a bit and shakes her head, before finally coming to a smile. "I...guess you did huh?"

Right as Ageha and I began to laugh a bit together, another silhouette came stumbling in through my doorway, mumbling a few words that I couldn't exactly make out. The instant I had seen who it was, I completely froze.

It was Hotaru.

 _"Oh shit, did she see that whole thing just now?"_ I thought to myself.

Right as I was about to think of anything that I possibly could to say, everything had changed as soon as she had stepped into the light.

I cocked my head back in confusion as soon as I had gotten a good look at her. "Wait...what the hell?"

Hotaru's eyes were completely closed...and she was snoring...but at the same time she was standing up and walking towards us.

Before I could even think to say anything else, Ageha let out a small sigh, stood up, and walked over to her sister.

"Aggie, what the...is she sleepwalking or something?" I asked.

She nods her head and scoffs. "She does this all the time at home, and I've always gotta put her back to bed...I'm used to it though."

"Wow...I never knew she did that. Heh...what a sweet big sister she's got eh?"

She smiles half heartedly and laughs a little. "Well she's a pain, but I love my sister to death. I'll do anything to take care of her."

"I know you would. She's lucky to have someone like you ya know."

Ageha turns her head to the side and mumbles to herself a bit. _"She doesn't have to be the ONLY one lucky to have me..."_

"What did you say?" I asked her curiously.

"Aha..uhh...n-nothing. Well...I guess I'll get her back downstairs and back to bed. I'll...be going back to sleep too. I'm getting pretty tired again..." Ageha chuckles lightly and begins walking her sister towards the door.

I stand up myself and walk her to the door out of courtesy. "Yeah, me too. I'll probably be sleeping before you even make it down the stairs honestly."

"Ahah...I bet..you look pretty tired."

"Yeah I definitely am. Well, I'll see you in the morning Ageha."

Ageha finally gets Hotaru back into the hall and I had begun to start shutting my door, turning back to my bed as they had left, or at least that was the plan.

Right before my door shut all the way, it had been stopped by a single foot.

I turn back around towards my door to see exactly what had happened when I hadn't heard my door actually close, but was stopped dead in my tracks by two hands quickly grabbing onto my face and pulling me downwards.

Before I could even make a sound, Ageha had completely pulled my lips onto hers, only for a moment, before pulling away gently and letting go.

"Hehe...goodnight Hayden."

She smiles once more before leaving the room, shutting the door lightly behind her and leaving me back to myself as I was before.

I shake my head a bit out of disbelief as I walk back to my bed and crawl under the covers lazily, turning my lamp off afterwards and leaving my room pitch black once again.

After laying down for a minute and actually taking the time to think on it, the reality had finally come to hit me all at once like a ton of bricks. "What...the hell just happened?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14: A Lively Morning

 **[The Next Morning]**

"Ahhh Jesus." I yelled, slamming my fist down onto my extremely loud and very much annoying alarm clock. "Why the hell did I set my alarm so freaking early again?"

I glance over to my clock and sigh to myself; 08:00 it reads.

I shrug my shoulders and stretch my muscles a bit before putting on some day clothes. "Well, whatever. I guess it's a little better to be up early since it's our last day off for the weekend."

I walk down the stairs into the living room at least half expecting SOMEONE to be up, but that was unfortunately not the case.

Ageha and Hotaru were both under one big blanket on the big couch, completely snuggled up to one another, absolutely passed out.

I pull out my phone with a smirk and open up my camera to take a picture. "Heh...they're gonna be so pissed. I'm definitely putting this on my Facebook page.'

Frank on the other hand was still literally in the exact same position that he had been that I left him in...only difference was that at some point in the night, Kanako somehow ended up with her head resting upon Frank's legs.

Once again, I hold up my phone towards the two of them this time around and snap yet another picture with a huge smirk.

"Facebooook." I said to myself with a grin.

All by my lonesome, I trot on into the kitchen towards the fridge to pull out some food and start cooking the five of us some breakfast.

Eggs, check.

Sausage, check.

Biscuits, check.

Bacon, absolutely.

Cinnamon rolls...

"Crap, we dont have any more cinnamon rolls? Damnit..." I lightly bang my hand on the fridge in frustration. "Guess we'll have to do without just this once."

Once I had pulled everything out, I turned on the burners on the stove and pulled out a few pans, getting everything ready and prepared to be cooked by none other than yours truly, or at least that's what I had thought.

"Whatcha doin?"

"Oh shit!" I literally almost dropped the huge kitchen knife that I had in my hand, onto my bare foot, though I luckily had caught it in time.

At some point, Hotaru had snuck up to the counter behind me and sat at one of the barstools when I was prepping the food.

She covers her mouth to stifle a laugh and turns away for a moment to hide it the best that she could.

I just rolled my eyes to myself, since I had caught on to what she had done regardless. "Jeez dude, how long were you standing there like th..."

As soon as I had finally turned around to face her, I was greeted back by her big brown eyes, staring deep into mine.

"Uhh..." I simply mumbled.

She quickly turns away after fully meeting my gaze, hiding the redness that had been forming upon her cheeks.

I put my fist up to my mouth and clear my throat a bit before turning back to the cutting board, placing the roll of sausage upon it.

"You uh...want to help?" I asked, keeping my eyes focused on the cutting board as I opened the sausage.

She remains silent for a few seconds before I finally hear her stand up. "S-Sure..." She said as she began walking towards me.

"Cool...uh...thanks..."

 _"Jesus, that's the best thing you can say Hayden?"_ I shook my head and scorned myself internally.

"So...what exactly should I help with?" She asked.

"Hmm...let's see...well, if you want, you can crack open all of the eggs from this carton and start whisking them to make scrambled-"

"Wait, all of these? But...this is a whole jumbo 18 count carton..." She said, slowly opening the carton and counting them by hand.

"Well...heh...yeah. Frank and I eat a lot...we usually eat six eggs or so a piece when we make scrambled eggs.

Hotaru raises an eye and looks at the carton questionably.

"Don't worry about it either way. Frank and I usually keep two to three cartons of eggs in the fridge, so we have more anyways...just in case we need em."

She smiles and nods her head before grabbing two of the eggs and cracking them both at the same time rather skillfully into the glass bowl I had pulled out. As soon as she had done so, she set the eggshells into the empty slots in the carton and wasted no time in grabbing two more, repeating the process almost flawlessly.

I just raise an eye at her as she began whisking the eggs in the bowl quickly, before finally leaving nothing but pure yellow liquid in the bowl.

"Well, color me impressed. I'm guessing you've done this before?" I asked her, finally starting my role in cutting the sausage into pieces.

She nods and smiles, tucking her hair behind her ear a bit before putting the cast iron pan onto the burner and pouring the beaten eggs into it.

The pan lets out a big satisfying sizzling sound the second the eggs had touched it, bringing me to a content smile. there was just something about breakfast in the morning that always made me happy...well, actually I'm pretty sure it was just food in general.

"My grandma is actually the one who used to show me how to cook when I was younger." Hotaru suddenly spoke after grabbing the pack of bacon and laying the strips on one of the other pans I had pulled out.

"Ah." I grab the last cast iron pan at my side and put it on the third burner I had set on, slapping the ten pieces of sausage I had cut onto it before grabbing the big biscuit pan for the...well...biscuits.

"The same grandma that I met a few times by your house as a kid I'm assuming?" I asked, popping open the can of bisuits and effectively jumping at the noise it made...as always.

Hotaru just nods and smiles again quietly, setting the now bacon strip filled pan onto the last burner.

"How is she anyway? Gonna have to catch up with her soon too when I get a chance."

As soon as I had said that, Hotaru just freezes momentarily from moving the bacon pan around on the burner, looking off into the other direction away from me.

I cock my head to the side briefly and tap her on the shoulder to get her attention.

"Uhh...Hotie?"

She finally looks back at me and smiles a bit weakly. "She uh...she passed away a couple years ago actually, Hayden..."

I take a deep breath and bit my lip, angry at myself for saying anything about it in the first place. "Annnd I'm an inconsiderate douchebag."

"Oh come on, no you aren't. You...you just didn't know...that's all. Plus it's been a while, I've gotten used to it already, so it's okay!"

I search her face the best I could to make sure she hadn't been lying or hiding any true emotion from what I had said, and luckily it didn't seem that she had been.

I smile and nod, patting her shoulder a bit to comfort her a little. "Well, I'm sure she's probably smiling at you and your skill you got there now."

She chuckles a bit at my statement as she pulls off the now finished pan of scrambled eggs and sets it to the side. "Heh...you think so?"

"Of course. You gotta carry that skill on as like...a legacy now, you know?"

She nods and smiles at me once more before turning the burner she was finished with, off. "She used to always tell me every time that we'd cook together...'Hotaru-Chan, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Take care to remember that when you cook for your man so you make a good wife'!"

I couldn't help but to laugh a bit at the little mock voice she had done of her grandma. "You know, somehow I don't doubt that those were probably her exact words."

Hotaru and I both shared a little laugh together at the whole bit before we finally had finished up with making breakfast and cleaning up.

"Ya know Hotie, I guess that means you gotta cook for me sometime huh?"

She looks up at me with big eyes and begins blushing a bit.

It wasn't until after I had said it, that I had realized how it had probably sounded after what we just talked about. "Wait I mean...I wasn't saying it like...I was...like I wasn't implying that you had to cook for me cause I was your man or anything."

She just turns away even further from embarassment and stares down towards her hands.

"Shit dude no! I mean like, I wasn't saying that I was your man or anything either! That's not what I meant! I was...like I was just saying-"

Suddenly Hotaru comes up to me and hugs me tightly, shutting me up quite effectively.

I swallow hard and remain still for a few moments before finally slowly coming to reciprocate the hug.

"It's okay Hayden. I...wouldn't mind anyway..." She said the last part as she buried her face into my shirt a bit before pulling away from the hug, though I had still heard her perfectly clear.

" _She's just talking about the making food for me part...right? Yeah...that's gotta be it...unless..."_

"Ahem."

Suddenly before I could even think any further on the matter, Frank had suddenly walked up to the bar with the biggest most douchiest smirk I've ever seen.

"Can I help you?" I said with a raised eye.

"Uh yeah maybe you can by telling me what you two were doing, hmm?"

"Well if you'd direct your attention behind me to the kitchen counter, you'd see that we're clearly doing breakfast."

"Oh of course, my bad. Didn't realize that's what they called it nowadays." Frank gestured towards Hotaru and I who had just got done hugging each other.

She turns away once again, redder than ever from embarassment.

I just roll my eyes and clear my throat a bit. "Hey, Frank?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you kindly fuck off?." I said with a smirk.

He just smiles back and laughs a bit before walking into the kitchen and grabbing himself a plate of food. Once he had filled his plate, he immediately grabs another one and begins to put some food on it.

I grin at the whole bit and walk over next to him as cocky as ever.

"Yes?" He asked, taking note of me now standing next to him.

"What uh...whatcha doin here Frank?" I asked, pointing to the second plate of food in his hand jokingly.

"Oh...uh...well I had asked Kanako if she wanted me to go ahead and get her a plate since I was already up and-"

"And since when did you two become best friends?"

"Dude, I'm just getting her a plate of-"

"OH IS THAT WHAT THEY CALL THAT NOWADAYS?"

As soon as I had finished my cocky remark, the two of us had both burst into a brief fit of laughter as I began fixing myself and Ageha a plate of food alongside Frank, handing hers to Hotaru when I finished.

"Here, give this to your sister, okay? I'll make you one too after you take it to her."

"Oh nono...you don't have to..." She puts her hands up to try and stop me, ultimately failing in the end.

I hold the plate of food that I made for her sister closer to her face, forcing her to have to grab it. "Just take it Hotie, I got your plate next...just think of it as thanks for helping me cook, if nothing else alright?"

She finally lets out a little sigh and smiles, complying by taking the plate and bringing it to her sister.

"I swear that girl..."

Frank gets closer up in my face with another big ass cocky smirk all of a sudden. "Hmmmmmm?"

"What now?" I asked as I made Hotaru's plate as promised.

"You swear that girl...what, Hayden? What excactly do you swear, hmmmm?"

I sigh to myself and rub the bridge of my nose playfully. "Could you like...for five seconds, NOT be an asshole?"

"Ehh...I dunno man...five seconds is a pretty long time."

I shake my head and punch Frank in the shoulder, gaining a small laugh from him, myself included. "Alright, let's go eat!" I said, turning around and walking out of the kitchen and into the living room with the food.

Finally after a few tries from Hotaru pushing her a bit, and me doing the same as well, Ageha had woken up as last.

She rubs her head a bit and complains about having a headache, so I ended up having to walk back into the kitchen for some headache meds for her.

Once I had given her some and breakfast was finally all said and done, I stand up from the couch and hold out my hand towards everyone.

"Just hand me the dishes, I'll get em." I said.

"Oh don't mind if you do then!" Frank said, immediately putting his plate and utensils on top of mine.

"Yeah, I figured your ass would jump right on this you lazy prick."

"Hey now, don't get your panties caught up, I'll take care of trash duty today."

I immediately nod my head and point towards him. "You got a deal, cause we have a shitload of trash to take out."

He lets out a big sigh and shakes his head. "Okay maybe this WAS a bad idea."

Once Frank had set his plate on mine, I had walked over to Kanako to grab hers, to which she smiled and thanked me. Next up was Hotaru, who just just smiled and turned away after handing me her plate. As I was just about to grab Ageha's plate...

"Nuh uh." She said, standing up suddenly. "I'm gonna help."

"...You sure?" I asked her, still holding my hand out, ready to grab the plate from her.

She simply nods and pushes my hand away, walking past me and into the kitchen, turning the sink on herself afterwards.

I just shrug and smile, following into the kitchen right after. "Fair enough." I said as I walked up to her side.

"I'll give Frank a hand with the trash!" Hotaru said, raising her hand and jumping off the couch suddenly.

"Me too! Since...he said it was a lot and all, I'm sure he won't mind?" Kanako surprisingly turned directly towards Frank to ask him.

He just shrugs and lifts himself from the couch lazily, stretching a bit as well.

"Sure." He said, mid stretch. "Thanks you two."

Kanako and Hotaru both smile and nod, following Frank until they had all walked out of the front door and out of our view.

As soon as they had done so, an instant change in the atmosphere between Ageha and I had occurred. The second her and I were alone again, nothing but the thoughts of what happened last night had crossed my mind.

It wasn't even so much that I was nervous...I just seriously had no idea what to say to her.

That had all changed quickly though, once she had decided to be the first to break the awkward silence.

"I...uh..." She said, trailing off mid sentence.

"Hmm?" I simply replied, waiting for her to finish.

"I...want to apologize for last night..."

"Ah. I see."

A few moment of silence had passed until I finally decided to continue.

"It's okay you know. It's not like I was mad or anything, really. I...kinda had figured none of that stuff was true anyway, since...well, you WERE pretty hammered." I said the last part with a little laugh at the end, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

She smiles back and giggles a bit, so it must have worked a little at least.

"Well...actually Hayden, I was moreso just apologizing for the fact that I had just come on to you out of nowhere like that...I wasn't apologizing for lying or anything...because I never did."

"...So...you...really WERE serious then?"

"Well...I mean...y-yeah." She said, shrugging at the end, keeping her gaze directed towards the dishes.

I just shake my head a bit in disbelief yet again. This was still a little hard for me to grasp so suddenly.

"But like...you were like a huge tomboy back then dude...hell when I first met you, I had even thought you were literally a guy for like two months, remember?"

She giggles a little at my statement before putting away the dish she had just finished.

"Yeah, I remember. It was all the way up until that time you wanted to have that peeing contest." Ageha turns away for a moment and smiles. "Your face was priceless the second I had pulled my pants do-"

I quickly turn towards her and shoot her a look that says 'Don't even go there'.

She just rolls her eyes and turns the sink off after she had finished up on the last dish.

"So, what did you and Frank have planned today anyway?"

"Us? Meh, not much. He and I wanted to go check out the music store today to buy some new shit for the drums. Plus, I need a new set of strings...the ones I have now are on their last leg."

"Ah, sounds like fun for you two."

"Yeah I guess so...wait...are you guys not hanging out with us today or something?"

"Unfortunately...my mom wanted me and Hotaru home early today since it's the last day before school." She turns to me and leans her back against the counter with a sigh. "They're pretty strict on me and Hotaru about our grades and all."

"I mean, I understand that but...like how early? It's only 9:15am dude."

Ageha raises her eye and takes a step closer towards me. "Aww what's the matter Hayden? You sound disappointed...you really want me to stay that bad?"

"What? Pff...please, it ain't even like that."

"You sure?" She said, taking yet another step towards me with a now large smirk plastered onto her face.

"Uh...yes?" I said, taking a step back cautiously.

Step after step, she continues growning closer, until...

"You know, maybe if you ask nicely, I'll consider i-wahh!"

She suddenly slips on a wet section of the kitchen floor, fumbling forward towards me.

"Oh shit!" I quickly lunged forward and caught her quickly, breaking her fall before she had actually injured herself.

"Jeez you klutz, you almost got hurt. You alright?" I asked, with Ageha now in my arms.

She slowly looks up to me, and the instant that she did, that big smirk that she had before had been completely wiped away and replaced by a fierce shade of red upon her face.

"Uhh...Ageha? You good?" I asked.

She barely nods her head and continues staring directly at me.

" _Shit man, how do I always get into these awkward situations?"_

Suddenly, she begins to close her eyes and move closer towards me.

" _Oh crap, not again."_

"Hayden..." She whispered as she continued moving closer.

"Heeeeere's Frankie!" Suddenly the front door burst open loudly, effectively scaring the crap out of both me and Ageha.

"Shit!" I yelled, quickly pulling myself away from Ageha.

Frank then jogs up to the bar and leans over it towards us. "Yo, are you guys done with the..."

Ageha and I had both been faced away from one another now; she had been tapping her foot on the ground a bit nervously.

Frank comes to a little smirk and clears his throat. "So uh...what were you two doing?"

I roll my eyes and point behind me to the finished dishes cockily.

He just continues smiling as he raises his eye. It was pretty safe to say that he wasn't buying it.

Next up, Hotaru came running up to the bar. "Whatcha guys talking about?"

Frank just laughs a bit to himself and shrugs his shoulders. "Nothing really, I was about to see if Hayden was ready to head out so we can bring you all back where you need to go."

I turn my attention towards Frank quickly, instantly cathing his attention as well.

"How'd you know that they had to go h-"

"Hotaru told me outside when we were taking the trash out." He said, pointing towards Hotaru at the same time.

I lift my head a bit in acknowledgement with a little 'ah' before turning towards Kanako who had began walking up to the bar as well, maintaining a bit of distance between herself and Frank; no surprise there really.

"So what about you then? You gotta go too I'm assuming?" I said to Kanako.

She just nods and smiles. "Yeah. I've actually got a little schoolwork I need to catch up on. I've been putting it off the whole weekend since I've been hanging with you all heheh..."

Frank slumps down a bit and turns towards Kanako. "Aw man why didn't you say something? We weren't trying to like...burden you or anything like that."

She just blushes a little and smiles, shaking her head. "No it's okay. I had a lot of fun this weekend...I actually hope we can do it again with all of us like the other night."

"Hell yeah, the more the merrier." Frank said with a thumbs up.

"Well then." I said with a clap of the hands. "Shall we get going then?"

Everyone looks to one another briefly before nodding back at me.

"Alright, lets get to it then!"

Frank and I had both gone our seperate ways for the car rides since Kanako had to go back to F.F Manor, whereas Hotaru and Ageha were just going back to their house.

After a few minutes into our quiet little ride, Hotaru had finally spoken up out of the blue.

"So...how long have you and Frank actually known each other?"

I look up into my rear view mirror to meet the gaze of a very much 'at attention' and curious Hotaru.

"What made you wanna ask that all of a sudden?" I asked, slapping my car into neutral as I rolled up to the red light.

She just shrugs and smiles. "I dunno. Just curious I guess."

"Hmm...fair enough. Well, I've been around Frank literally since before he and I were even a year old. Our Dads have been friends for...God even knows how long now, and...well that's basically why we've been around each other for so long."

"Ohhh...I see." She said with a very interested tone.

"As for friendship-wise? Well we were both just a tad over the age of one when we actually started to play together. Next thing you know, few years passed and we entered kindergarten together, and even had the same classes literally from then all the way to our senior year in high school. The we both had decided to go to LSU which is a college back by our hometown.

Both Hotaru and even Ageha now were almost completely focused on my little story now, clearly every bit interested.

"We had only gone there for our entire first year, and maybe like four months of our second year? That was when Frank and I had decided to come here to Japan to finish up college as boarding students."

"But...why all the way here in Japan? And by yourselves at that?" Ageha asked curiously.

"Well...Frank and I have always talked about coming back here when we got older after actually finishing college...but we let the hype get to us a bit much and didn't feel like waiting anymore and...well, here we are!" I said, pointing to myself proudly. "Well, here I am at least."

Ageha and Hotaru both let out a little chuckle and nod.

"But...it really is crazy. I mean...you two said you only speak a little Japanese...and with that little bit, you both still decided to come here on your own like that. That's actually pretty brave if you ask me." Ageha gave me a little punch to the shoulder like she had almost somewhat been impressed.

"How's that crazy? Doesn't like 95 percent of Japan speak English anyway?"

Ageha and Hotaru both look to one another before they both burst out laughing.

"Uhh...I take it that means that what I said isn't entirely correct."

They both nod and Hotaru even wipes a little tear away from her eye.

"Granted...people here can speak English, yes...but nowhere near 95 percent. Maybe more like...20 percent...if that even." Ageha stated matter of factly.

"Wait...seriously? But like...everyone I've spoken with so far has spoken English around here and in school. Hell, even back then It was the same."

"Yeah, that's because Kazegaura has always had a lot of foreigners and whatnot come around, so a lot of people here do speak English...but as for like...all of Japan?" Ageha turns and looks out of the window and laughs. "Dude if you guys went to like...say...Tokyo, I could guarantee you'd run into thirty people who can't speak English before you run into someone who does...and even then, they probably can't speak much of it at all anyway."

"Oh...wow. Well, shit I guess we won't be moving to Tokyo then anytime soon huh?" I said with a laugh, finally coming up to Ageha and Hotaru's driveway.

"Well, you better not move anywhere anytime soon...you just finally came back after promising us you'd never leave once before...so if you left again, I'd have to literally track you down and kick your ass." Ageha said, slamming her fist into her hand as some sort of threat.

I just roll my eyes before unlocking the passenger door for the two of them. "Good lord, I am stricken with fear. God help me please."

"Tch...jerk." Ageha said, smiling at the end.

She gives me a hug before stepping out and pushing the seat down for Hotaru next.

Hotaru leans over to me and hugs me as well. Although her hug may have lasted a little longer than her sister's. I had decided to keep quiet on the matter since Ageha didn't seem to even notice it in the first place.

"Heh...even if you did come to 'kick my ass' as you say, I'd have Hotie here to protect me and back me up, won't I?"

I look over to Hotaru and smile, but to my surprise she shakes her head as she smiles back.

"Sorry Hayden...but I think if you left again, I'd be really upset too...and I'd probably want to kick your ass as well." She said the last bit with a little giggle and stuck her tongue out at me before finally getting out of the car.

"Wow...uh...alright. Never in my life have I been so betrayed." I said playfully.

Hotaru and Ageha both laugh alongside each other once more before waving to me and walking up to their front door finally.

"Alright, see you two tomorrow at school!" I said, sticking my head out the window of my car.

They both stop to turn around and wave to me, smiling.

"Text me to let me know when you get to the music shop with Frank so I know you're safe, okay?" Hotaru called out.

Ageha makes a slightly annoyed face before stepping a foot in front of her sister.

"Or you could text me if you want to let me know! Or just call me or whatever!" She said.

I nod my head to the two of them.

"Yes yes, I'll be sure to let both of you know, I promise."

As soon as I had begun backing out, I glanced over to them once again to see the two of them now bickering a little between one another. I couldn't help but to envision the two of them standing there as little kids.

"Heh...just the same as back then...you two haven't changed at all." I said to myself as I drove off.

After about twenty minues of driving after calling Frank, we had decided meet up at the gas station close by the house to try and further figure out exactly where we wanted to go.

"Damn, it's about time slowpoke." Frank said, stepping out of his car as I pulled up next to him.

"Yeah yeah. Anyways did you happen to look up any music stores around here?" I asked, pulling my phone out just in case.

"Nah I didn't. I was talking to Kanako the whole ride there and-"

I immediately put my hand up into his face to cut him off.

"Hold on slow your roll there...you and Kanako actually talked?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"Dude...are you kidding me? She's literally always like...crazy quiet, save for when she talks to Ageha and Hotaru. Heheh...becoming closer friends with Kanako there, eh Frank?"

He just shrugs his shoulders and nods. "Yeah...I guess you could say that. But...I mean, all I really did was asked her about herself and her hobbies and shit to break the ice a little."

"...No shit huh? Well...maybe that's honestly all that was needed and-wait...hold up."

Frank just raises an eye at me due to me stopping mid sentence.

"Did she make eye contact with you even once?" I asked him.

He ponders for a moment before looking up at me, a bit more intrigued now.

"You know what? She actually didn't now that I think about it."

I let out a big sigh and shake my head lightly.

"Well...maybe eventually she'll break out of that shell...IF she actually keeps hanging around you and I." I said.

"You trying to say I'm annoying?" Frank asked with a raised eye.

"No. I'm actually saying that WE"RE annoying."

"...Alright, fair enough." He said, folding his arms afterwards. "Anyways, you think they maybe have a Guitar Center around here? They...are worldwide aren't they?"

"Uhh...yeah, I believe so...hell, actually I dunno. Let me check."

I open up google maps on my phone and type 'Guitar Center' into the searchbar. Within seconds, not one, but THREE had popped up within the 25 mile radius.

"Well goddamn. I guess they are worldwide then." I said, turning the phone screen towards Frank. "Closest one is only 10 miles from the house."

"Hell yeah, what is that like...thirty minutes-ish?"

"26 if we're being exact...well, according to maps at least. Shall we then?" I asked, already putting my phone away and hopping back into my car.

Frank hops into his car and rolls his windows down after starting it.

"I think you already know what I'm gonna say to that one." He called out.

We both pull out of the gas station together, arriving at the local Guitar Center some twenty odd minutes later or so.

"Holy crap dude, this one is so much bigger than the one by our house back in the U.S." I said, glancing at the building from bottom to top.

Frank nods his head and holds the door open for me. "Yeah no kidding."

"Thanks sweetheart." I said, winking at him afterwards.

He jokingly makes a kissy face and follows me inside.

I had gotten no more than five feet from the door before instantly stopping in my tracks. "Holy shit dude..."

Frank had finally looked up as well after closing the door behind us. "Oh...mother of God. Dude...this place...it's like the godfather of Guitar Centers."

"This is NOT good. I'm gonna buy shit we don't even need, I can already see it coming."

Frank takes out his wallet and looks at it with an exasperated sigh. "Well, it was nice knowing you, money."

He and I walk over towards the drums section to buy a few new pairs of sticks and whatnot, stop over by the strings section for myself and walk into the acoustics room afterwards just for the hell of checking it out.

"Yo man, why haven't you gotten yourself an acoustic guitar yet anyway?" Frank asked suddenly.

"Please don't ask, cause I'm gonna end up getting one if you do."

He shrugs his shoulders and nods to my comment. "Fair enough."

"Hayden? Frank?" A familiar voice suddenly called out from behind us.

We both do a complete 180 to meet the gaze of none other than Ina and Akira.

"What's up guys?" Ina asked, walking up to the two of us and hugging us briefly.

Akira had greeted us right after in the same manner.

"Yooo, what are you two doing here? You girls play music?" I asked them curiously.

Akira raises her eye and shakes her head.

"Nope. We're here cause our idiot brothers wanted to stop by on the way of taking Ina and I shopping. I guess we can't say much though since they are taking us for our sake and all."

"I...was unaware that either of you had siblings honestly." I said matter of factly.

"Yup. They both go to school with us as well, but we're literally never around them there, so I'm not surprised. My cousin Akari goes there too." Ina smiles and looks down at her phone, which had suddenly vibrated.

"Wait, you don't mean that class president chick or whatever huh? Isn't HER name Akari?" Frank asked out of the blue.

Ina nods her head after placing her phone back into her pocket. "Yeah. Her, I'm not so surprised for you two to know. A lot of people know her, due to her position and how well she...I guess you can say 'manages' it."

"Isn't she like ridiculously over-strict about everything though? I remember on like Tuesday or so, when Frank and I were going to the vending machines for some green tea deliciousness, she was in the hall yelling at some dude for his shoe being untied."

"Heh...yeah, that definitely sounds like her. Anyways, what are YOU two doing in here?" Akira asked.

"Just doing a bit of our guy shopping. I needed some new guitar strings and Frank needed drumsticks."

"Oh, so you guys do play music then?"

"Yeah, I play drums and Hayden plays guitar. Been playing together for about...oh...say, ten or eleven years now?" Frank said after pondering on it for a moment.

"Oh wow that's a long time...so you've known each other for a while then?" She asked, a bit more intrigued than before.

Frank nods his head with a proud smile. "Yep, been best friends for as long as I can remember honestly."

"Yeah same for Ina and I. We've known each other since we were little kids, so we grew up around each other. Surprisingly, we actually have our idiot brothers to thank for introducing the two of us to each other since those two had already known each other beforehand."

Ina suddenly turns around and takes notice of someone, waving them over towards us. "Hey speak of our idiot brothers, here they come!"

A couple of voices had called out from outside of the doors to the acoustics room, just out of my view.

"Hey, who are you calling stupid?" The first voice said.

"They're just upset cause they didn't get to go to the mall without paying this small price." The second voice followed. "What're you two doing in the acoustics section any...way..."

All of a sudden, when the mysterious voices had finally come into the room with us to reveal themselves, the four of us guys' jaws hit the floor.

It was Motou and Hamada.

"Yoooo...time the hell out. These two are your brothers?" I asked, pointing to each of them respectively.

"You...four know each other?" Akira asked with obvious confusion.

Motou nods and folds his arms. "Yeah we do but...how do you know them?"

Akira scoffs to herself a little and smiles. "We literally sit right in front of them in class. How do YOU know them?"

"We're all in the music club together? Duh." Motou said it like it should've been obvious.

Akira places her hands on her hips with a bit of attitude. "Well excuse me for not knowing."

Motou nods his head and shoos her off with his hand a bit. "You're excused."

She folds her arms and turns her head to the side away from him. "Tch...asshole."

"Spoiled brat."

She let's out an annoyed grunt followed by a heavy sigh. "Ugh...whatever, can we go already?"

"Sure sure. We were done anyway." Motou turns towards the two of us and slaps hands with us before turning back around.

"Speaking of, we all have club tomorrow anyway...so we'll see you two at school tomorrow I guess huh?" I asked.

Hamada walks up to us after and does the same as Motou had, nodding afterwards. "Yup. We'll be there."

Ina and Akira both walk up to Frank and I afterwards to hug us.

"Well, now that we know Hayden and Frank are in the club with you guys, we have even more of a reason to come and bother you all when we have extra time!" Akira said with a devilish grin.

I rub the back of my neck and smile a bit nervously. "Ahah...I don't know whether to be afraid of that statement or not when you put it that way."

"Guess you'll just have to find out! Well, later guys!" Akira gives us a little wave as she runs up to her brother, who had already pretty much left her behind and headed to the door himself.

Ina smiles and waves afterwards and catches up with them all until they had eventually all exited our view, and the store as well.

Frank lets out a little playful sigh and looks over to me after he had finished waving. "Looks like we're in for a bit of liveliness tomorrow eh?"

I just shrug my shoulders before nodding. "Well you heard the girl...we'll just have to see huh?"

 **Yoooo, sorry for this crazy long delay, work has been hectic as hell lately and I haven't been able to do much writing, let alone even touch my pc lol. Forgive me, I'll try to get the next one out a little sooner, I promise!**

 **-H**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Secret Is Out

 **[The Next Morning]**

After the bell for our second period had rang, Frank and I, along with Aoi, Kotori and Ageha had all stood up and headed out into the hallway for lunch period.

"Man I'm starving." Aoi said, rubbing his grumbling stomach.

"Don't they have steamed meat buns today for one of the lunch choices?" Kotori turned her head towards Aoi and asked him excitedly.

He grabs hold back of her wheelchair after stopping to rub his stomach, slowly beginning to push her down the hallway again.

"I think so, yeah."

"The hell is a meat bun? Is that kind of like a meat pie?" I asked.

Aoi just gives me this really weird look. "The real question is, what the hell is a meat pie?"

Frank opens his mouth in shock. "Dude, you've never had a meat pie?"

Aoi raises his eye towards Frank now. "You've never had a steamed meat bun?"

The three of us all look towards one another and we each shake our heads.

"Can't say that I have." I said.

"That's a negative, commander." Frank followed.

Aoi just chuckles a bit to himself and smiles. "Well I guess that we're even, cause I've never even heard of a meat pie."

Frank just shrugs his shoulders and nods. "I guess that makes sense though. Meat pies were probably just a local thing from where we're from. Basically a meat pie is like pulled pork or ground meat and cheese or whatever, stuffed inside of a starchy pie type crust thing."

"Shit is phenomenal dude." I added proudly.

"Hmm...well those almost sound almost like some steamed meat buns...except its inside of a soft bun, not pie crust. So, they shouldn't really be all that different."

I gave Aoi a little nod in response and pondered on the thought myself a bit. "Well damn...haven't had a meat pie in a while and if this is similar, then I'd definitely be down to try it. Hopefully they still have some left when were done with club stuff."

"Yeah, if we're even done before the time lunch is over...which I'm hoping for." Frank added.

Ageha shoots her attention over to Frank as soon as he had finished his statement. "Wait, so you two aren't eating with us today then?"

"Well it's Monday...one of the days when Motou and Hamada like to hold club meetings, so we gotta go unfortunately. We might be able to join in last minute though." I said, stopping once we had gotten to the first cross section in the hallway. "We're going this way, so...we'll see you guys in a little while alright?"

"You shouldn't be that long huh?" Aoi asked.

"As we said, hopefully before lunch is over." Frank began heading down the hallway towards the club room after waving them off.

"Well, I'm with him so I'll be seeing you guys in a bit hopefully." I said, pointing over my shoulder towards Frank.

"I'll try to snag you guys each some meat buns if you two don't make it, alright?"

I hold out my knuckles and give Aoi a little fist bump. "You're the man dude, that'd be awesome. Well, later guys."

I quickly turn around and sprint down the hall to catch up to Frank.

"Yo, thanks for waiting douchebag." I said, coming up next to him.

He just shrugs and continues his steady pace down the hallway. "My bad."

"Yeah yeah. Anyways, I guess we should pick up the pace a bit to get to the club room as soon as we can." With that said, I upped my speed to a bit of a jog.

"Good idea. The sooner we get there, the sooner we get out and-"

["Hey! No running in the halls!"] A voice shouted out from the rear.

Frank and I both slow down and turn our attention down the hallway behind us to meet the glare of none other than the class president.

"Aw crap. You done did it now." Frank said, poking my side with his finger.

"Me? You took off right behind me you know."

She walks over to us and stops when she had gotten a few feet away, tapping her feet on the ground loudly.

"Uhh...heh. Sorry bout that prez. Won't happen again." I said, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"Look guys, just because you two may have been able to act like this back in the U.S. in your American schools, doesn't mean you can come over here and do the same."

I raise an eye at her, albeit a tad annoyed with her comment. "Wow...uh...that was kinda racist dude. You got something against us just cause we're not Japanese or something?"

She let's out a sigh and shakes her head. "No, that's not it at all...but we have standards here, and I intend to have everyone follow them thoroughly when they're in my halls."

["Heeeey Akari-San!"]

Suddenly another voice had appeared behind Akari from down the hall.

It was Ina, accompanied by Akira as well.

Ina trots up behind Akari and puts her arm around her shoulder. "These two bothering you cuz?"

She points towards me and Frank and grins.

Akari just shakes her head and sighs to herself.

"Cuz?" I said in a low voice.

"Yep! Cousins!" Ina nods her head and turns back towards Akari. "Or maybe...it was YOU who was bothering THEM...hmm?"

"Nah, we were just running to the music club and I guess we kinda weren't supposed to be. It's our faults for that, so we were just apologizing to her." I bowed my head lightly towards Akari and smiled. "Sorry about that."

She looks a bit taken back by my sudden apology.

"N-no...it's alright. As long as you two know now, it's fine."

I give her a little thumbs up and turn back to the original direction that we were heading. "Awesome. Well, we'll be off now. Music club's calling."

Ina finally lets go of Akari and darts over to Frank and I. "Well what a coincidence, that just so happens to be our destination as well!"

"Guess we can all head there together now eh?" Akira was next to pop up next to us.

Frank and I both look to one another and shrug.

"Sure, why not." I said.

"Guess you two meant it when you said you'd come and 'bother' us more, huh?" Frank asked.

"Of course, why would I lie?"

Akira lightly pushed my shoulder and stuck her tongue out at me.

"Fair enough. Anyways, here we are."

I grab hold of the doorknob and walk right into the club room.

Motou and Hamada were all the way in the back talking to a few members from the student council, alongside a few of the other club members who we still weren't too familiar with yet.

Once they caught wind of Frank and I, they had waved to us, making a bit of an annoyed face when they had seen their sisters on the other hand.

After they sent off the few people that they were talking to, they finally came over towards the four of us.

"Yo." I said, taking a seat next to where we were standing. "So what were they in here for?"

Hamada lets out a heavy sigh, pulling himself up a seat as well, next to me.

"Stuff for the upcoming festival."

"Ah I gotcha. Wait...what would they need us for though?"

After thinking on it for a bit, I suddenly jumped out of my chair, a bit more excited than I'd have thought.

"Hold up, do we have to play or something?"

Motou was the next to pull up a chair and join the conversation.

"Yeah, we do." He said with a nod. "We and Roshido Academy both come together like this for a lot of these festivals that we do."

Hamada stands and adjusts his glasses with a serious look.

"They're more like our rivals though in a lot of the events...well...actually, that's pretty much exactly what they are. Especially with the music part." He said.

I kick back in my chair, propping my feet up on an empty desk in front of me.

"Ah...so y'all do like band shit for the club activities huh? That's pretty awesome." I said.

"Yeah we do. We go up against Roshido's music club every year."

"You guys probably kick ass every year too huh?" Frank asked with a proud smirk.

Hamada just shakes his head and sighs a bit to himself.

"Well...not exactly. We've...never won once actually."

Frank and I both look to one another doubtingly.

"Uhh...like...not even once ever?" I asked.

"Not even once ever." He said with a huff.

Frank leans back in his chair and folds his arms with a disbelieving look.

"Dude...how? Are they really that good?" He asked.

"Well...actually." Motou suddenly took over. "It's not that they're THAT good, it's mostly because of the differences in what we play...on top of the fact that their lead singer's Dad owns the fricking school."

As soon as I had heard him say that last part, I shot my attention over towards him in an instant. I almost couldn't keep the excitement within myself.

"You...wouldn't happen to mean that guy Koda, would you?"

Motou and Hamada both raise their eye in surprise before nodding their heads and walking over to the main desk in front of the class.

"Yeah actually. You know him?" Motou asked.

I just scoffed a bit to myself and shook my head.

"Not really, but Ageha does a little. I only met him briefly the other night when we were all out at the store. She told me that he's pretty much a stuck up rich douchebag...wasn't that hard to see either from my little encounter."

Motou let's out a little "ah" in acknowledgement.

Frank clears his throat and stands up from his seat and walks over to Motou and Hamada.

"So...what exactly do you guys mean by...differences in what you play? Is it because you guys shoot for the whole metalcore genre and people don't like that shit?" He asked.

Hamada shakes his head and smiles.

"No it's not that. You see...uh...well, my cousin is really strict about everything and...well...she makes us play like...orchestral stuff and all...since that's what used to be practiced in here mostly anyway."

"You mean Akari?" I asked.

Hamada just raises his eye, a bit surprised at my statement.

"What are you looking at me like that for?"

"How'd you find that one out?" He asked.

"From Ina here when she called her 'cuz' or whatever back in the hallway before we came in here."

"Ah...fair enough."

"Yeah...so now, let me get this whole thing straight...you guys mean like Bach and Mozart and shit when you say orchestral stuff?" I asked, laughing a bit towards the end.

Motou just nods and chuckles a bit at the way I had said it.

"Yeah that's basically how we see it too. I mean most of the others in the club that we used to have, quit because of that. They got tired of playing slow old music like that too." He said.

"I mean, I bet. It doesn't even sound like fun...sounds more like you guys get forced to learn and play that stuff."

"Well yeah, kinda. I mean, that's what the music club was originally created for."

Frank raises his hand out of the blue suddenly, causing Motou to raise his eye at him.

"Uh...yes Frank?"

"So what the hell does Roshido play that's so much different?" He asked.

"Well...the stuff that we like to play...actually."

Frank gives Motou a very unamused look.

"...So you mean to tell me, they get to play that kind of shit, and we gotta stick to classical music?"

Motou and Hamada both look to one another and nod.

"Basically...yeah. That's actually what the guys from the committee were in here for. I guess Akari sent em to come and see how the progress was going for our practice and all, even though...we haven't actually started yet...heheh."

"Dude...screw all of that."

Frank quickly turns over his shoulder towards the girls, pointing towards Ina in particular.

"Ina!" He shouted.

She jumps back a bit at his sudden outburst, a bit startled from it.

"Uh...yes..Frank?"

"You did pretty amazingly in the hallway back there with Akari. She seemed pretty pissed with me and Hayden for running and all. Next thing you know, the second you show up and mess with her, she's all calm and whatnot and her attitude had made a complete 180."

"...Well...yeah, she IS my cousin. We've been close ever since her and I were kids...but what does that have to do with-"

Without hesitation, he quickly lunges towards her and places his hands upon her shoulders.

"Ina..." He said in a low tone.

She swallows hard and her cheeks become completely flushed.

"Um...y...yes?"

"Please, do this favor for me. I mean...there's no way in hell that I can get on a stage for the festival and play a frickin violin or some shit like that. I'm a drummer...that other stuff isn't for me, and it sure as hell isn't what I joined this club for."

She rubs her chin for a moment and thinks on the matter.

"I mean...I don't know if I can really change her mind though. She...IS pretty anal when it comes to rules and all that stuff."

Frank nods and let out an exasperated sigh.

"Look I know...I know its her duty and all to make sure everything is in order and whatnot...but I mean what's the harm in any of it? If the people like that type of music anyway...I mean I just don't see any problem you know?"

"Gotta say, I completely agree with him." I added in.

She laughs a bit nervously for a brief moment, before finally coming to a nod.

"Alright, I guess I can talk to her about it then. I can't make any promises though!" She said with a little giggle.

He smiles and rubs her head playfully to mess with her a bit.

"Thanks dude, you're amazing." He said.

She remains silent and her face once again turns completely red before she finally turns around towards Akira.

"Okay Akira let's go!" She said.

Akira just looks at her, confused.

"Wait, why do I have to c-OW! Okay okay, I'm coming!"

Ina had grabbed her by the arm as she passed her, dragging her along out of the classroom with her.

Suddenly, Frank gets a light punch on his shoulder.

He turns back towards the source to meet a questionable gaze from Hamada.

"What?" He asked.

"Hitting on my sister now, hm?"

"Tch, come on dude as if. Ina is cute and all, but it's not even like that. I don't even talk to her outside of school at all, let alone hit on her."

Hamada looks at Frank disbelievingly for a few moments, before laughing and slapping him on the back.

"Alright fine, I'll take your word on this one."

"Well gee thanks, what about the next one?" He asked playfully.

Hamada just raises his eye and smirks at him. "Guess we'll see, won't we?"

I look over towards Frank, who just shrugs, before slapping Hamada on the back lightly.

"That saying must run between both of you two huh?" I said.

Hamada just smiles and kicks back in the chair at the main desk, letting out a sigh as his head hit the back of it.

The four of us all remain silent for a few minutes before Motou finally speaks up.

"So Hayden...Frank...HAVE you two ever played any orchestral instruments anyway?"

Frank and I both look to one another briefly and just laugh.

"Uhh...no we definitely haven't dude." I said.

"Ah. I mean I kinda figured that by how you were talking about it to my sister, but I was just curious. So...does that mean you guys aren't gonna play with us for the festival then?"

"Dude...you're not really gonna give up already huh? Give Ina some time dude...I think she can make this happen."

Hamada just smiles and shakes his head.

"Its not my sister that's the problem, it's Akari. She definitely knows how to be...extremely stubborn, to say the least."

Frank nods furiously with wide eyes.

"Trust me, we can see that."

Hamada lets out a disappointed sigh and shakes his head.

"It didn't work last year, and believe me...we tried several times."

"So who's to say it won't this year? We gotta at least try dude...know what I mean?"

Hamada looks over to Frank and shrugs before glancing over and looking out of the window.

"Maybe so, who knows. Heh...gotta admit, I admire you two's determination."

I fold my arms and bit proudly and nod.

"Oh hell yeah dude, you already know it. When Frank and I set goals, we always follow em no matter what."

"It's true." Frank added. "Takes a hell of a lot for us to give up."

"Well...for now, let's see what my sister can do. I've never asked her to help out before so...who knows, maybe it'll work first try."

"Sounds good to us." Frank said, looking down at his watch afterwards. "Oh shit...yo Hayden I almost forgot about Aoi and the others!"

"Crap you're right."

I quickly grab my bag from next to the chair I had sat in and toss it over my shoulder.

"We'll catch you guys later alright? Gotta hurry up and meet up with the others before lunch ends! Them steamed meat buns are callin." I said, darting out of the classroom after giving them a little wave.

Frank grabs his bag as well and darts out right behind me.

"Later guys!" Hamada called from behind us in the classroom.

After walking down the hall as fast as we could, without exceeding a speed for it to then be considered running of course, we finally arrive at the cafeteria.

Frank places his hand above his eyes as if he's scouting from a distance and begins scanning the whole place.

"Damn, I don't even see em." He said.

I just roll my eyes and shake my head, pulling out my phone afterwards.

"Instead of looking like a complete idiot searching for his lost puppy, how about I just text Aoi?" I said.

He quickly places his hand back at his side and clears his throat.

"Uh...yeah. That'd probably be better."

I quickly navigate to my contacts and pull up Aoi's name to shoot him a message.

 _"Yo, you guys still in the cafeteria?"_

No more than ten seconds pass by before I get a reply.

"Damn, he's almost as fast as Ageha." I said.

 _"Nope! We're on the roof actually. It's Ageha by the way lol._

I just roll my eyes and chuckle a bit to myself as I read the text.

"Well nevermind, that explains it."

 _"Hold up, are we actually allowed up there?"_

 _"Sure, we used to come up here a lot actually!"_

 _"You aren't lying to me are you?"_

 _"No, it really is okay. Other people do come up here too ya know lol."_

 _"Alright, fair enough. We'll be up there in a second."_

 _"Better hurry! Your food's gonna get cold lol."_

 _"Yes yes, anything for you sweetheart."_

For some reason, I had never gotten anything back after sending the last text, which is weird since Ageha is pretty much a texting addict.

"Hmm...maybe it didn't go through or something..."

I place my phone back into my pocket and shrug my shoulders.

"Whatevs, c'mon Frank let's go to the roof I guess."

He turns to me with a raised eye and cocks his head to the side.

"Wait, the roof?"

"Yeah, that's where they said they are." I said with a confident nod.

"Akari isn't going to have a shit fit if she sees us up there is she?"

"According to Ageha, it's perfectly fine to be up there, so I guess not."

Frank just looks at me hesitantly at first before finally nodding and making his way towards the stairs.

"Screw it, let's go then."

"Right behind you." I said as I followed along.

As soon as we had gotten on the roof, and I mean the LITERAL second that Frank and I walked through the door, Ageha had jumped out in front of me angrily.

"The hell took you so long?" She said, pulling out her phone and checking the time. "That's ANOTHER five minutes that you wasted! What were you even doing?"

"We took the stairs." I said.

"For what? They have elevators!" Ageha shouted.

"We like the exercise dude. Jeez what are you, my mom?"

Ageha folds her arms and lets out an annoyed grunt.

I just roll my eyes and walk over towards Aoi and Kotori with Frank.

"Yo." Frank and I both said simultaneously.

"Yo." Aoi replied, handing Frank and I each a paper bag. "Meat buns are in there."

I let out a little sigh of satisfaction as I took the bags from him.

"You're a God dude." I said.

"Well if you say that now, just wait til you try em." Aoi said with a smirk.

Frank places his hand upon Aoi's shoulder and bows his head slightly.

"We're putting our faith in you on this one Aoi...you can't let us down."

Aoi clenches his fist and places it across his chest as he bows his head.

"Senseis...I swear on my life and honor, that I will never do such a thing."

Kotori and Ageha both look to one another with complete confusion.

"What the hell are they doing?" Kotori whispered.

Ageha just shakes her head and facepalms. "I have no idea. I guess this is what they call 'bromance' or whatever."

Frank and I both slowly take out the meat buns from each of our bags and begin opening the wrapping from around them.

"You ready?" I asked, holding up the meat bun towards him.

He nods and lifts his meat bun towards mine in compliance as some sort of cheers.

"As ready as ever." He said.

With that, we both take a big bite from each of our buns and needless to say, it didn't take very long for us to relay how we felt.

"Shit, that is...wow." I simply said.

Frank nods along with me, immediately taking another bite.

"Mmfh...yah...mmn...yah yhat's yam good." He said, his mouth full of food.

I look over towards Frank and roll my eyes at him.

"Jesus Christ Frank, chew your food."

He just shrugs his shoulders and continues eating without hesitation.

"So how'd I do?" Aoi asked smugly.

I just laugh a bit at his cocky posture before nodding and patting him on the back.

"Ya done good Aoi...ya done good."

He throws a little victory fist pump to the side before leaning back against the wall as he had been before.

Kotori steals a few glances at Aoi briefly and giggles before turning back towards Ageha.

I can't help but to chuckle to myself at the sight, though I of course hadn't actually said anything about it.

 _"Wonder if Aoi realizes that Kotori totally digs him."_ I said to myself.

"Yo, where's Kanako and Hotaru by the way?" Frank asked, turning to Ageha in particular.

"Oh, they both went and met up with our friend Amane for some things for soaring cl-uhh..."

She instantly pauses in the midst of her sentence and both Aoi and Kotori shoot her a glare as if she said something that she shouldn't have.

"I mean...they're with our friend Amane be...cause...she...needs help with tutoring! Yeah! Hotaru and Kanako are both really good with math, so they've been helping her a lot lately."

Ageha started to laugh a bit nervously after her statement, and it only succeeded in bothering the hell out of me.

"What? Are you guys...hiding something from Frank and I?"

I had asked the question half jokingly at first, since I really didn't care to pry on the matter too much in the first place.

But as soon as I had asked, the three of their faces had gone almost pale. It really was as if there was something that they weren't telling us.

"Wait...are you guys seriously hiding something from us?" Frank stepped forward and asked.

I glance over towards Kotori and Ageha, before deciding that they probably wouldn't fess up no matter how many times I had asked.

I was left with only one other choice.

"Aoi." I said calmly.

He swallows pretty hard, only furthering my suspicions.

"Uhh...yeah?" He said nervously.

"Dude...if there's something Frank and I should know, you'd say so right?"

"Of course I would."

"Alright, if that's the case...then tell me what Ageha was about to say."

Once again Aoi swallows harder than one should.

"Well, I don't know to be honest, I'm not Ageha you know, hahah."

Aoi laughs a bit nervously at the end, trying his best to play the whole thing off as if he was stupid, but it wasn't gonna work on me.

"I saw the way both you and Kotori looked at Ageha when she froze up like that mid sentence, meaning that you both know just as much as she does, that she was about to say something that wasn't meant to be said out loud."

"I was gonna say maybe they were like planning a surprise for us for our birthdays or something, but thats a couple of months away, and the only one who'd probably know that is Ageha."

Frank turns towards me in particular after he had finished his statement.

"And even though our birthdays are in the same month, she'd only know about yours anyway."

I nod my head and fold my arms, albeit a tad annoyed with everything now.

"Yeah, you're right." I said.

I shoot the three of them a little glare, and as soon as I had opened my mouth to ask my next question...

The bell signaling the end of lunch had rung.

"Well, there's the bell!" Ageha shouted, quickly throwing her bag over her shoulder and heading for the door to the elevators.

"Seriously? Is it something that bad?" I asked.

Aoi quickly grabbed hold of Kotori's wheelchair and began darting towards the elevators as well.

"Sorry guys, we'll continue this later alright? Gotta get to class!" He shouted.

"Dude seriously, we have ten minutes, our classroom is literally down the elevator and right down the-"

Before I even finished my sentence, Aoi had already headed inside and shut the door behind him.

"...Hall."

Frank turns towards me and raises an eye.

"I mean, maybe it's something personal?" He asked.

I shake my head and glance over towards the door.

"I don't think that's it necessarily, but...I mean is it really something that they can't even tell us?"

"Like I said, maybe it's just personal or something that's just kept between the three of them specifically."

"I don't think they'd freak that hard if it were something as simple as that, don't you think Frank?"

He ponders for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"I dunno...maybe you've got a point there. Whatever it is, they're reeeeealy trying to be discreet about it."

"Yeah, I know...alright, look...I say we carry out the rest of our day normally, but whenever the last bell of the day rings...we try to see what they're up to."

Frank shoots me a bit of a surprised look and raises an eye.

"You don't mean like...stalk em do you?"

"My dear Frank..." I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That's precisely what I mean."

"...Hell, I'm in. Let's do it man."

Frank and I both come to an agreement before heading back towards the classroom as well just as the others had.

Sure enough, we had done exactly as we had said and carried out the rest of our day normally, chatting with Aoi and the others as if nothing had ever happened in the first place.

As soon as that last bell had rung and class had let out, the three of them had shot up out of their seats rather anxiously and headed for the door.

"You guys aren't coming hang out today?" I asked Ageha specifically.

She turns around briefly and smiles.

"Well...we probably won't have time and all for today...we have some stuff we all gotta get done for school...catch up on some homework and all, you know?"

Although it sounded like a load of shit to me, I had just nodded anyways.

"Hmm...yeah, I guess that makes sense. Well, I guess we'll see you guys tomorrow then?" I said.

"But of course! I'll text you later, okay?" She said, quickly walking out of the classroom afterwards.

As soon as the three of them had left the classroom, a few seconds later Frank and I look to one another and nod.

"Go time?" He asked.

"It's go time." I said as I stood up from my seat.

We both head for the door, just slightly peeking out into the hallway towards where they had been.

The three of them had a steady pace going as if they were truly in a hurry to be somewhere.

"Shit, it's now or never man." Frank said, looking over his shoulder at me.

"Yeah, let's go."

Frank and I begin darting down the hallway towards the direction that the three of them had been walking in, maintaining a good distance in between in order to remain undetected.

"Man, we really are gonna tail them, huh?"

I look over towards Frank momentarily give him a look that says it should have been obvious.

"You got a better idea? We need to see what they're up to man."

"I mean...but isn't sneaking around like this kinda weird?"

"Like I said, you got a better idea?"

He shrugs his shoulders and nods.

"Good point. Well...let's keep going then."

I nod, and with that, we continue on following them.

After about five minutes, once we were all outside, the three of them had finally met up with Kanako and Hotaru on the side of the main school building.

They were all well in the open, easily within anyones sight.

Frank looks over towards me, scratching his head.

"Hmm...you know for them trying to do something discreetly, they're not being very discreet."

"Agreed." I said with a nod.

After the five of them met up, they began walking again shortly afterwards.

"Come on lets go." I said.

Frank and I immediately shoot up and begin crouch sprinting towards where they had just been.

As we started to close in on them once again, I had caught something out of the ordinary.

Kanako had been holding two small boxes of some sort whereas Hotaru had a small bag in her hand.

"Hold up...what you think is in those boxes dude?" I asked.

Frank shrugs his shoulders and lets out a litttle sigh.

"I don't know...but it must be something bad if they're trying to hide it so much...maybe its a gun? Maybe they're building an AR?"

"Frank." I simply said.

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up and follow them."

"R-Right. I guess that was a dumb assumption." He said with a nod.

"Yeah, quite."

After following them for a solid twenty minutes or so all around the campus, we had finally followed them to a medium sized warehouse type building behind the school, which they were about to enter it seemed.

"Yo what the fuck?" I turn around to face Frank directly. "Did you know that this was even here?"

"Literally no idea this existed." Frank replied.

"Wait, hold up the door's opening, look." I said, pointing towards the main doors.

There stood a woman who I hadn't recognized, even though she had seemed to wear the school's uniform.

"Wonder who that is?" Frank asked.

"Beats me." I said, shruigging my shoulders.

After the five of them had entered, the woman glances around a bit, poking her head out from the door, then shuts it behind her.

"Come on, let's go." I said, quickly jumping up and darting towards the warehouse.

"Wait, we're going over there?" Frank asked, following behind me a few moments after.

"Uhh...yeah? I told you, I wanna know what they're up to that's so bad that they have to hide it."

"Dude...wait..."

I stop briefly to turn around and look at Frank.

"What?" I asked.

He stops for a minute and thinks hard, slowly looking up towards me afterwards.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked.

"Dude, you don't...you don't think they're like doing drugs and shit...do you?"

"Pff..what? Come on man I don't th-"

"No Hayden, seriously. Think about it man...something they're keeping from only us...meeting up behind the school...going into a shady looking warehouse...meeting up with some shady unknown chick..."

After Frank had explained it a bit better, I had begun growing a bit more anxious.

"Frank...you don't really suppose..."

He shrugs his shoulders, placing his hands in his pockets afterwards.

"I dunno, but I really hope it isn't the case."

"Hotie...doing drugs though man? I dunno...I really couldn't see her doing that; Ageha neither to be honest, they're too pure for that." I said matter of factly.

"Yeah but...when people hang out with certain other people that influence them...people can change to fit in, you know?"

"I mean...I'm not sure man, but what I do know is that we'll never find anything out just standing here."

Frank and I then both crouch sprint over toward the main doors of the warehouse, taking cover in the big bushes right outside of the front of the building.

We both sit there for a few minutes before Frank finally decides to say something.

"Sooo...now what?" He asked.

"Hmm...I guess fuck it. Let's go." I said, moving from the bush to right outside of the door where the others had entered from.

"Okay, time out." Frank said, making the actual time out gesture with his hands.

I let out a big sigh and turn to face him directly. "Dude, what now?"

"We're not going to like...just bust through the door like some retarded looking wannabe swat unit, are we?"

I just raise my eye at him momentarily.

He just continues staring me down anxiously.

"Is there some sort of problem with that?" I asked.

"Uh, as a matter of fact, yeah. We're going to look like a couple of idiots."

"I mean, do you have a better plan, Frank?"

He folds his arms a bit cockily and nods. "As a matter of fact I do. How about we knock on the door like...you know...civilized, normal people, and simply ask them to explain what they're-"

"Hold on Frank, shh." I said, putting my hand up to stop him.

He cocks his head to the side with a raised eye. "Did...did you just interrupt me?"

"Dude, shh...listen, I can hear them talking."

Frank and I both scoot closer to the door and put our ears up to it for a better listen.

["Did you bring the stuff we need?"]

"Wait, who was that? I don't recognize that voice." Frank whispered to me.

I nod back in agreement. " I know. I wonder if that's that chick we saw poke her head out."

["Yes yes we have it all, don't worry so much Amane!"]

"That definitely sounded like Ageha." I said confidently.

"Did she say Amane? You think maybe that's that chicks name?" Frank turned to me and asked.

I just shrugged my shoulders without answering, placing my ear back upon the door to continue eavesdropping.

["Heheh...sorry sorry, I'm just really anxious to finally put all of this to the test!"]

"Sounds like she apologized for a test or something? If I heard right."

Frank nods and agrees with my statement. "Yeah, I was just about to say something along those lines."

We both then remain quiet for a good minute before Franmk finally breaks the moment of silence.

"Hmm...sounds to me like they're maybe just doing all this shit for school man., Like...you know...after school tutoring or something I guess."

"Yeah...it's starting to seem that way now. I guess I should have figured that we probably jumped the gun way too quickly."

"We?" Frank said, turning to me and cocking his head to the side. "Man, YOU'RE the one who came up with this plan...not me."

"True, but you still followed along without question, meaning that obviously, SOME part of you had to have felt the same as I did about this whole thing." I said with a proud smirk.

He pauses briefly to think before letting out a little sigh of defeat. "I...guess you're right about that."

"Yeah...well, come on man. It doesn't seem like they're doing anything worth investigating anywa-"

["I know! We're gonna get it so high up this time!"]

Frank and I instantly both fall dead silent.

"...Was...that Hotaru?" Frank asked.

I just nod and swallow hard. "Did she just say something about getting high?"

Frank just nods and remains silent.

"..."

"..."

"Hooooly crap, they ARE doing drugs!" Frank shouted, quickly jumping to his feet. "Dude...what the hell do we do?"

"UH, SWAT TIME, THAT'S WHAT THE FUCK WE DO." I said, jumping up to my feet as well.

 **(Inside the warehouse)**

["I know! We're gonna get it so high up this time!"]

["Heheh, anxious are you sis?"] Ageha asked with a proud smirk.

[Well, yes. I...I know I haven't helped too much...but I still really enjoy watching Aoi and Kotori fly in the g-"]

All of a sudden, the door to the warehouse burst open loudly, revealing me and Frank.

"Don't do it Kanako, you're better than this!" Frank said, letting himself inside the warehouse.

I came in right behind him, folding my arms angrily. "Guys, what the hell? Why did you guys keep something like this from us? From me?" I asked, specifically directing my anger towards Ageha and Hotaru.

They both looked to one another in complete confusion before looking over to me, still with a very confused look.

"Yeah! I thought us two were supposed to...be...your..."

Suddenly Frank stops dead in the middle of his sentence when he catches eye of something out of the ordinary.

"...friends..." He finished.

I cock my head back fror a moment, but instantly find myself just as astonished as he when I had caught attention to where he had been looking.

At the other end of our gazes, lay what seemed to be some sort of small sized aircraft in almost pristine condition, aside from the wings not being attatched to it.

Frank and I both fell completely silent, now at a complete standstill.

"Uhh...what uh...what is-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Frank gasps in excitement.

"Holy shit, is that a real t37-s model glider?!"

"Oh, you...know what this is then?" The unknown girl suddenly asked.

"Oh absolutely! Dude these things are like suuuuper rare. I've never actually gotten to see a glider in action in real life and...uhh..."

Frank suddenly pauses and looks over towards the table which had tools strewn out all across the top of it, before looking towards everyone, who all looked completely confused, save for the girl who had just spoken to him.

"Have...were you guys...building this thing?"

Still keeping silent, a few of the others had slowly nodded.

I then let out a big sigh of relief as everything had finally come to me as well.

"So THAT'S what you guys have been doing then..." I said to myself.

"What's that supposed to mean? What did you two THINK we were doing in here?" She asked, almost a bit annoyed.

Frank and I both tensed up a bit as we looked at one another.

"Uhhhh..." Was all I could really say at the moment.

"We...weren't really sure to be honest." Frank said.

Ageha folded her arms and began tapping her foot against the floor.

I let out a little sigh of defeat and try my best to explain myself.

"Look...we're sorry for intruding on you guys' business and all but...Frank and I were just worried, you know? I mean...you guys could have been hiding something from us for...well any reason really."

"He's right." Frank added in. "I mean like...you could have been being blackmailed or like held against your will or something and..."

He stops mid sentence and lets out a big sigh, shaking his head.

"Look, we're sorry guys...really. We won't pry so much next time, okay? I promise."

Kanako looks over towards Frank and smiles before looking over towards the others.

"I'm not really too sure what exactly there is to apologize for, but either way I think we can all easily forgive you two...right everyone?" She said, looking over towards the others.

They all smile and nod their heads, although it may have taken Ageha a bit longer to do so herself.

"Yes yes, fine." She said waving her hand around nonchalantly.

"Hold up...why WERE you guys keeping something like this a secret from us? I mean...what harm would come out of something like this?" I asked them.

"Well...that's because technically...we aren't supposed to be doing this at all." Said Ageha.

I raise my eye at her and scoff a bit cockily. "Uhh...okay, and? What, did you think we would like tell on you guys or something?"

"Well...I mean not...necessarily..."

"Holy crap, you actually thought we would tell on you?" Frank said, facepalming afterwards.

She immediately throws her hands up in defense and shakes her head.

"No I swear, it isn't that! I was just worried that if we told you two, that you guys would accidentally slip up and say something at some point...YOU specifically." She said, loooking dead at me.

I pointed to myself and raised an eye at her questionably.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, a bit annoyed at her judgement of me.

"You just have a big mouth sometimes, as you did when you were younger as well." She said, folding her arms with a proud smirk.

"Uh yeah, maybe when I was 12, I'm frigging 22 Ageha jeez, I know how to keep a secret when need be."

She just rolls her eyes and shakes her head. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Uh yeah, that's because I am." I said cockily.

"Tch...asshole."

"Okay lovebirds, that's enough." Frank said, turning towards the mysery girl afterwards. "I'm sorry, we didn't even introduce ourselves to you yet, My name's Frank and that over there's Hayden."

"Wow, thanks, because I totally couldn't introduce myself right?" I heave a heavy sigh before regaining my full composure and smiling. "Anyways. like he said, my name's Hayden. He and I are friends of everyone here actually."

"Oh! So YOU two are the ones they tell me about so much then! Nice to finally meet you!" She said, walking up to Frank and I and shaking our hands a bit clumsily. "My name's Amane Mochizuki!"

Frank and I both chuckle a bit at her ditzy behavior before giving a light bow.

"Well it's nice to know we're at least thought of when we're not around huh?" I said with a laugh.

"Oh yes! Ageha and Hotaru are always talking about you Hayden, and Kanako's always mouthing off about Frank and all. I feel like I'm meeting two famous people!" Amane joked.

Hotaru hurriedly turned her head away from me after what Amane had said; Ageha's face had begun to get a little red on the other hand.

"Amane, come on!" Ageha said.

Kanako had just chuckled a bit nervously, turning away from us as well afterwards.

Frank then cleared his throat before directing his attention towards Amane once again.

"So...this is what you guys have been doing then?" he asked.

Ageha steps forward and nods proudly before Amane even had a chance to say anything. "Yup, sure is! Amane's been teaching us how to do this kind of stuff for a while now."

"That's pretty cool. I never thought you guys would all be into something like this, let alone being able to actually get your hands on the parts and stuff in the first place." Frank said, stealing a few glances at the glider in between.

"Frank took a few flight classes a couple of years ago and even got a beginner's pilot license. I even watched him fly a small civilian helicopter and land it by himself at the flight school he went to. It was actually kind of impressive to be honest."

Frank lightly punched my shoulder and giggled jokingly. "Aww you're gonna make me blush."

I just roll my eyes and chuckle at the statement he made.

Kanako hesitantly walks over a bit closer towards us' Frank in particular.

"You...know how to fly too, Frank?" She asked, looking at him with slightly flushed cheeks in a bit of awe.

Frank swallows pretty hard before clearing his throat and nodding. "Yeah, I can actually. I've always loved anything to do with flying or...well the sky in general really."

"ME TOO!" Kotori shouted all of a sudden, drawing everyone's attention to her.

She hurriedly covers her mouth with her hand and shyly turns away, burying her face in Aoi's shirt unkowingly.

I can't help but to laugh to myself as I shake my head at the scene.

 _"Dude, how are those two not dating yet? Seriously."_ I thought to myself.

"Oh, you like to fly Kotori?" Frank asked.

She slowly emerges from the depths of Aoi's shirt and clears her throat before straightening her posture to look more calm and collected.

"I sure do! Well...I haven't actually done it yet...but I've always loved looking up at the sky and...wondering how it would be to be up in the clouds one day." She said proudly.

Frank smiles and nods and Kotori does the same right back, almost as if the two of them had known what each other was thinking or something.

"Well, it's definitely a surprise to know that this is what you guys have been getting into as of late." Said Frank.

"Yeah, definitely was a relief for us to know that this was all that you guys were doing!" I said with a smile.

"I mean, did you two think that we were doing something bad?" Kanako said suddenly.

Ageha joins in next, cocking her head to the side and folding her arms at me.

"Uh, yeah, exactly what is it that you originally THOUGHT that we were doing?" She asked, a bit annoyed now.

Frank and I both look to one another and laugh a bit nervously.

"Uh..." I said, rubbing the back of my neck with a cheesy smile. "Heheh...about that..."


End file.
